Four factors influencing conversion to a four‐day work week

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of top management officials regarding successful implementation of their chosen workweek arrangement. A two part questionaire was developed, Part I consisted of defining the participating firm through the use of profile characteristics. Part II consisted of statements developed from a review of the literature. Two attitude scales followed each statement in order to determine management attitudes towards the variable represented by the statement; and, the impact of the variable on success of the conversion to a four-day workweek. Replies were tabulated, and four hypotheses were tested by use of one-way analysis of variance to determine significance. The results of the hypothesis testing indicate that changes in productivity had a significant impact on successful implementation of a four-day workweek; improved job satisfaction of the work force had a significant impact on the successful implementation of a four-day workweek; changes in the rate of absenteeism may have a significant impact on successful implementation of the four-day workweek; and, changes in the turnover rate had no significant impact on successful implementation of a four day workweek. The authors conclude that a key factor contributing to the increasing number of firms either adopting on considering alternative workweeks was employee satisfaction with conversion.