4-Day Work Week To Be Proposed In PA For Certain Companies

PENNSYLVANIA — Workers at many Pennsylvania businesses could be looking at a 32-hour work week, as a statehouse legislator said she will introduce a bill to shorten the working period to four days.

Democratic Rep. G. Roni Green, who serves part of Philadelphia County, said she will “soon” introduce legislation requiring businesses with more than 500 employees to reduce their work hours from 40 hours per week to 32 hours per week without reducing employee pay.

This legislation would exclude small and mid-size companies, Green went on to say.

Technological advancements have allowed modern workers to be more productive in less time, Green said, in mentioning that the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 established the standard 40-hour workweek.

On Tuesday, Green asked her colleagues in the Pennsylvania House to join her “providing a modernized workweek for workers of large companies in Pennsylvania.”

“A four-day workweek would provide hardworking individuals with more time for rest, family obligations, and focus on both physical and mental health," Green said. "Rested, happy and healthy workers in turn can better focus on work and accomplish more in a workday.”

Green, who serves on the House Labor and Industry Committee, further said that research has shown companies “may be able” to adapt to a four-day work week without losing worker productivity.

Forty-one companies have tested a four-day week in the United States and Canada, and employees reported that they experienced less stress and burnout after six months of that shortened schedule. And none of them were planning to return to a five-day work week, according to the study by 4 Day Week Global.

"Workers deserve to have a weekly schedule that respects a balance of work and personal responsibilities," Green said.