In any work, there are two broad areas that must be balanced: productivity and the well-being of the workers.
Without an acceptable level of productivity, sustainability becomes an issue in an organization. For the fact that employees earn from the income made by the organization, productivity is very important.
To be considered closely with productivity is the wellbeing of the employees. It's only a healthy and mentally stable employee that can give his or her best to the progress of an organization. This is where balancing work life with resting is very important. I can't subscribe to working more hours in a day in order to reduce weekly working days from five to four. I prefer work hours spread across many days so that in each day, there is time left to attend to other things.
A few years ago, I worked in a school where my working hours were 9 hours daily. I resumed work at 8 a.m. and closed by 5 p.m. Any day that I arrived home timely, I would arrive an hour later. On some occasions, I would get to my house by 10 pm. By 5 am the following day, I am up to prepare for work. I wasn't convenient with the working system at all. It got to a point that my mental health was being affected. I was losing sleep, and it was telling on me. Seeing the color of my eyes was enough to tell anyone that I was stressed. On weekends, I would be sleeping endlessly. At the end of the week, I wouldn't be able to achieve anything reasonable apart from the official work. I would even be battling with some necessary house chores.
When I was offered an offer by another organization, I didn't think twice before grabbing the opportunity. It was a great relief.
Remembering those days of 8–5 working hours, I didn't find it difficult to pinch my tent to a side of the divide when I saw the prompt.
Whatever arrangements would make an employee work for a lesser hour per day while maintaining the maximum level of productivity is what I would go for. For this reason, I prefer a system whereby employees work for five days, as we currently practice in most parts of Nigeria, to reducing working days to four while working hours are increased.
To maintain a balanced mental and physical health, one needs to balance working life with other things. Having time for one's family is very important. I can't imagine myself dedicating my whole day to work, and by the time I arrive home, I would be left a short time to eat and go to bed. In the morning, I would wake up before everyone else and prepare for work. I don't like such a style. I am the kind of person who loves having constant time to bond with my family.
Having the time to attend to other endeavors that earn someone income apart from the routine employed job is very important. Presently, the flexibility of my working time gives me the opportunity to interact and perform other activities on hive. If it were to be when I was in my previous job, I wouldn't have had time to do this during the weekdays.
My conclusion is that working for four days weekly with increased working hours would affect employees in many ways and, at the end of the day, impede productivity. Five days of work weekly seems to balance every aspect of an employee's life better.