Assembly member Christina Garcia co-sponsored a bill that stipulates that the official state working week is 32 hours for companies with 500 or more employees. Any work completed beyond this break would come with a big increase: Employers would have to pay a year and a half to employees whose hours exceed 32 a week. And work that lasts more than 12 hours a day or seven days a week would be paid twice as much as the normal salary. Employers subject to the law, which would apply to 20 percent of California’s workforce, would also be barred from cutting people’s pay if they worked less than their standard work week, Garcia told CBS News. The bill will not apply to employees who are represented by a union and covered by a collective bargaining agreement. “After two years in the pandemic, we have had more than 47 million workers leaving their jobs in search of better opportunities,” Garcia said. “They send a clear message that they want a better work-life balance – they want better emotional and mental health, and that’s part of that discussion.” California’s economy is the fifth largest in the world and the largest among U.S. states, making it a bell for many aspects of workplace culture.
Job killer?
The proposed law would cover about 2,600 companies in California, according to the Department of Employment Development. The California Chamber of Commerce has called it a “job killer,” saying it would make hiring more expensive and lead to job losses in California. “Labor costs are often one of the highest costs a business faces,” Ashley Hoffman, a Chamber’s advocate, wrote to Evan Lowe’s account partner last week. “[B]”Businesses often operate with small profit margins and… the number of employees you have does not dictate financial success,” he wrote. Evidence from other countries suggests that a four-day workweek can have positive effects, boosting employee productivity and reducing stress. A wide-ranging trial in Iceland last summer concluded that a shorter work week was an “overwhelming success” – 8 out of 10 employees in the country have since moved to work four days a week. Other countries, such as Scotland, Spain and even the famous workaholic Japan, have experienced shorter working weeks. Garcia argues that large companies, which had their most profitable quarters since the 1950s, can afford to pay more for employees. “We want to see them share some of this better life with their employees,” he told CBS News.
Working more than farmers
In the US, some companies have started experimenting with four-day week. Kickstarter officially launches its shortened work week this month. “[M]”My expectation and desire is that we can achieve the same results or greater results as a result of changing the way we work,” outgoing CEO Aziz Hasan told Time of the change. D’Youville College, a small private school in Buffalo, New York, began a four-day week in January. President Lorrie Clemo said the move would “improve the overall well-being of our employees and the competitiveness of our foundation”. But overall, the shortened work week was relatively rare in a country where workers work longer hours than in most other industrialized countries. The typical American worker today works almost 1,770 hours a year. Among the developed economies, only four nations – Israel, Korea, Russia and Mexico – have consistently more hours than America. Historical records show that 14th-century farmers worked far less than modern Americans. In contrast, factory workers in the 19th century worked significantly longer hours. Garcia’s bill is similar to a federal bill introduced in Congress by Mark Takano, a Democrat from California, and passed by the Progressive Group in Congress. “People are spending more time at work, less time with loved ones, their health and well-being is deteriorating and their pay is stagnant. It is time for a change,” Takano said in a statement.
