I wonder if companies here could find a way to balance a 4 day work week instead. It's popular across Europe (and the UK is now trailing it). Have some people come in 4 days, take 3 off and vice versa. 4 day work weeks seems to indeed increase productivity overall in most sectors and there usually isn't any need for a reduction in wages - in fact, employees almost never find that to be the case. It could easily allow employers to lease or own less office space if the workforce alternates. As someone who worked like this a lot while living in Europe, it gives you much more free time for yourself, rather than trying to balance taking 20 minutes off at home to run errands, because you know you have 3 entire days to yourself (in addition to the time you're not at work on workdays). It also boosts things like you're relationships, friendships and mental health etc because you've got more time to dedicate to your spouse or your hobbies, rather than trying to fit that into your normal workday where you're working, commuting, cooking, taking care of kids and so on.
I think people would prefer that if they had to be in the office. There's some evidence that working from home, on the contrary, reduces productivity. That way you get the best of both. Employees get more time off, productivity goes up and wages don't decrease. But to achieve that in North America I think we'll need a cultural shift where we stop living to work, rather than working to live. We still believe the latter to be true here, largely in part because we share a similar economic philosophy with our southern brethren who's entire existence seems to be dedicated to working, lest they end up with skid row.
I think people would prefer that if they had to be in the office. There's some evidence that working from home, on the contrary, reduces productivity. That way you get the best of both. Employees get more time off, productivity goes up and wages don't decrease. But to achieve that in North America I think we'll need a cultural shift where we stop living to work, rather than working to live. We still believe the latter to be true here, largely in part because we share a similar economic philosophy with our southern brethren who's entire existence seems to be dedicated to working, lest they end up with skid row.