Reduce the standard working week from 5 days to 4.

Background:

When was it decided that the standard working week would be 5 days
(Mon - Fri) and that the weekend would only be 2 days (Sat - Sun)?

Who decided (not really relevant but were they qualified to make that
decision) or is it something that just happened with no real planning
and we've stuck with it ever since?

Is still appropriate?

Can we develop a better work/life model around a different working
week structure?

Many people already work all sorts of strange shift arrangements yet
the traditional weekend (Saturday & Sunday) are somehow still deemed
special.

Is this accepted norm actually hindering progress in many business and
life pursuits.

Many offices and businesses lay empty for 2 days a week providing no
return on investment.

Would working fewer days actually be more productive. It seems crazy
but is it?

The Plan:

The standard working week should be apportioned over 4 days instead of
5.  It may be the same hours in total or a couple less but the
standard working week would be 4 consecutive days on, followed by 3
days off.

The concept of the weekend is abolished and in effect all businesses,
shops, offices and industry would operate continuously throughout the
week.

Every day has the same value as the rest. Weekends are not special.

Instead of everyone working the same 4 days (Mon - Thurs), people
would choose which 4 days of the week they work, in consultation with
their employer.

As people choose the timing of their 4 day working week to suite their
lifestyle, the weekend (as we know it), would have far less relevance.
Many people would opt for having their 3 day break during the
traditional mid-week period in deference to the weekend.  If we follow
this line of reasoning for just a moment, two days (Sat & Sun) amount
to about 28% of the week, so if offices and businesses were open 7
days, doesn't it stand to reason that there is the opportunity for
them to be 28% more productive.  Wouldn't this increase in
productivity require the employment of more staff, which would lower
the level of unemployment thereby reducing the nations social security
bill. This would inturn, increase the tax base and ultimately generate
greater revenue from taxes?

So where is the catch?  Well I recon to make it work, if we are going
to abolish the concept of the weekend, then we also need to abolish
all of the extra incentives people get to work on the weekend ie.
penalty rates, special loadings, you know the double time and a half
payments.  After all why should someone who works on a Saturday or
Sunday be paid much more than a person who works on a Wednesday? They
are all just days of the week but this artificial loading is really
what is holding us back from a better work life balance for all.  If
we reorganise our social structure so that our lives don't revolve
around the Sat/Sun weekend then the gains could be immense.

For instance:-

Increased Leisure Time:
The leisure and hospitality industry revolves around the weekend.
Restaurants, clubs, pubs, hotels, tour operators, sports,
entertainment all do a great business on weekends but are often empty
during the week.  With more people taking a mid week break these
industries would thrive, leading once more to greater employment,
etc.

Transport:
Traffic in our cities.  People often complain that public transport is
hopeless but isn't it is our work structure which imposes difficult
loadings on the system. Sure, Monday to Friday is bad but on the
weekend busses and trains go empty.  Again if we level out the working
week the stress on the public transport system will also level out. It
will also be more viable to increase services as they will be used
through out the whole week. Governments find it difficult to fork out
the money for a heap of extra trains and busses, only having to park
them somewhere for 28% of the week.

School:
School, what about school.  Well the school week of 5 days was
designed around the 5 day working week so it's not inconceivable that
it could be adjusted to match a continuous week where teachers only
work 4 days each.  That would require more teaches and maybe that gets
funded from the saving in the social security budget and increased
taxation revenue from greater employment.  Details would need to be
worked out but I don't think it's a show stopper.

Public Holidays
If we are only working 4 days a week then we wouldn't need so many
public holidays.  It would help the productivity equation if we cut it
back to 2 or 3 a year, say New Years and Australia Day?

Conclusion:

Restructuring our work/life balance so that there is a continuous
working week where employees can schedule their 4 day week around the
7 day cycle could bring increased productivity, re-invigorate many
industries and provide great opportunities for all.