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B C B U S I N E S S . C A
J U N E
2 0 24 i S t o c k /J e s a d a p h o r n C h aii n k a e w
The four-day workweek is gaining popularity across the globe, but
while some B.C. organizations have implemented it happily, others in the
business community remain unconvinced
by STEVE BURGESS
Should B.C.
have a permanent
long weekend?
SONIA FURSTENAU does not work a
four-day week, but her BC Green Party staff
does. "As soon as we got back in the legis-
lature after the election," the party leader
says, "I worked with our caucus team and
our staff has been on a four-day workweek
since November 2020."
Between her overlapping roles as party
leader and
MLA, Furstenau herself does not
get a three-day weekend. But she says she
still sees benefits. "I am the happiest boss,
I think, in the whole place," she says. "Our
staff are healthy and happy. It's a joyful
place to work. And I would argue that the
productivity that I've seen from this staff
has been consistently impressive. We have
demonstrated a four-day workweek can
work in an environment like this."
It's perhaps not surprising that progres-
sive politicians from Furstenau to Vermont
senator Bernie Sanders are extolling the
virtues of the four-day workweek. But they
aren't the only ones. The World Economic
Forum cites a number of global studies,
including a large project conducted by
researchers at Cambridge, Oxford and
Boston College, that showed no loss of pro-
ductivity, plus greater employee satisfac-
tion and retention. Forty-six percent of the
executives involved in the study reported
a stable level of productivity, while 34
percent reported a slight increase. Eighty-
six percent of respondents said it was
either likely or extremely likely that they
would continue the policy at the end of
the trial period.
YLaw, a Yaletown legal firm headed by
Leena Yousefi, has been on a four-day week
for the past four years. Yousefi's experience
at a previous law firm, where motherhood
and health issues forced her to adapt to a
four-day week (and accept a pay cut) con-
vinced her to adopt a pilot program at her
own firm. "I had to accept that I was going
to lose 20 percent of my profits," Yousefi
