Workplace Hacks Help Many NJ Employees Put In ‘4-Day Week’ (Survey)

NEW JERSEY — The debate over moving to a four-day workweek is far from over. But according to a recent survey, many employees in New Jersey are already there – although their employers might not know it.

Working from home comes with undeniable perks for both employees and their bosses: no grueling commutes, better work-life balance and cost savings.

It’s also spurred a subculture of secret workplace hacks, according to recent report from law firm Bisnar Chase.

The firm surveyed 3,010 remote employees and found that, on average, 26 percent admit they “effectively work a four-day week.” New Jersey remote employees averaged higher than the national curve, with 29 percent reporting that they make early exits.

Pollsters said that it doesn’t necessarily mean employees are cheating their bosses – it may just be a sign that times are changing.

“While it’s true that some remote employees are wrapping up their weeks a little early, the reality is that work isn’t as rigid as it once was,” explained Brian Chase of Bisnar Chase.

For example, many employees respond to messages after hours, contribute to group chats in the evening, and even tackle tasks while on vacation, Chase said.

“The traditional ‘9-to-5’ model doesn’t always apply in a digital world where work and life are more intertwined than ever,” Chase said. “In many ways, the flexibility of remote work allows employees to be more productive on their own terms – so while they may take a longer lunch or finish early on a Friday, they’re often making up that time elsewhere.”

See the full survey and learn about its methodology here.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE

According to respondents in the survey, here are some tricks of the trade that they’ve been using:

• Nearly one in four remote workers (23%) said they have worked from a vacation destination without telling their employer.
• About 47% of respondents reported taking work calls from the driver’s seat of their car. Meanwhile, 21% answered calls poolside or on the beach, while 15% answered from a hotel or Airbnb in another city.
• To maintain the illusion of productivity, 13% of employees use a mouse jiggler or other tricks to stay “active” on Slack or Teams.
• More than half (56%) opt for the classic “On a call” excuse—even when they’re not.
• About 26% mark themselves as “Away for a quick lunch” that can last for hours.
• Some workers report that they spend work time doing chores or running errands (38%), while 28% said they play video games during work hours. Others said they have spent time watching TV (22%) or sneaking in a gym session or long walk (12%).
• When Friday rolls around, 42% of employees strategically send a few well-timed emails to create the appearance of working, while 33% schedule calendar events to cover their early departure. Another 26% simply stay “active” on Slack or Teams without actually doing much.
• Nearly 17% of remote employees say they’ve worked two full-time remote jobs simultaneously.

FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK

The 40-hour workweek hasn’t changed in the United States since the late 1930s. But although productivity is reportedly soaring across the nation – including New Jersey – the number of hours that employees are required to put in to be considered “full-time” has remained the same for decades.

Last year, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont introduced legislation to establish a standard 32-hour workweek in America – with no loss in pay.

“Moving to a 32-hour workweek with no loss of pay is not a radical idea,” Sanders said. “Today, American workers are over 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940s. And yet, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages than they were decades ago.”

Sanders isn’t the only one claiming that workers across the U.S. are becoming more productive on the job.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, productivity increased nearly 65 percent from 1979 to 2021, while wages increased just over 17 percent in that period.

In New Jersey, the average employee is among the most hardworking in the nation, some reports claim.

A recent study from business website Upflip.com analyzed the labor productivity data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to see which states “added the most value to the economy” for every hour worked – making them the most “productive.” New Jersey ranked as the 8th-highest state in the study (New York ranked first, with Washington and Delaware placing second and third).

Some businesses in the Garden State have already begun experimenting with alternatives to the standard 40-hour workweek.

With employee shortages continuing to plague the restaurant industry, a restaurant in Camden County recently announced it was scaling back to a four-day workweek. It was a decision driven by the desire to create a better work-life balance for employees, offer more reliable wages and find a more sustainable business model. See Related: NJ Restaurant Shifts To 4-Day Workweek, Rotating Menus

Other states’ workplaces that have made the switch have also reported success.

In Colorado, the Golden Police Department recently switched its employees to a four-day workweek – while still paying for 40 hours. The department found that police recorded average faster response times for calls during all six months of the pilot compared to the same timeframe in 2022.

Many workplaces in New Jersey are already using artificial intelligence to improve productivity, another study says. According to AI productivity platform Plus Docs, which analyzed Google searches over a 12-month period related to using AI for work tasks, New Jersey averaged the 10th-highest monthly searches per 100,000 residents at 46.1, which is 21 percent higher than the national average of 38.1 searches per 100,000 people.

When a commenter posed this question on Reddit two years ago – “A four-day workweek could be ‘life changing.’ Should New Jersey get it?” – it sparked several replies in the affirmative, including:

• “My company went to 4-day work weeks for 8 months last year. I have no idea why they stopped. Things were going great. Even the CEO said he was surprised at how well it was going on a company conference call.”
• “Absolutely, as long as it's 4x8 hours, not 4x10 hours. We need to work fewer days and fewer hours, not just fewer days.”
• “40 hours is such an arbitrary amount of time especially in today’s day and age for most corporate jobs. My job, based in NYC could 100 percent move to 4 days, 8 hours a day, and my productivity would not change at all. There are numerous times a day I end up just sitting there but I have to be online in case something comes up.”
• “Just think of how glorious an extra weekend day would be.”

Some people are much more cautious about shortening the workweek, however.

“By squeezing four days into 32 hours, you’re now increasing goal difficulty (because you’ve decreased the time available to complete the original goal) by a lot—a whopping 20% overnight,” an associate professor of management and human resources at the Wisconsin School of Business recently said.

“As someone who studies organizational behavior and motivation, I would argue that even if this is possible, which is debatable, it may not be healthy for employees,” he added.

Other experts have argued that a shorter workweek could force businesses to hire more workers at a time when labor is at a premium, and prevent people who want to work overtime from getting as many hours as they want. Meanwhile, labor costs could rise, they say.

• Read More: Is NJ Ready For A 32 Hour Workweek? It Could Happen – Here’s How
• Read More: Why Workers —And Employers— Need a 4-Day Work Week
• Read More: NJ Raises Minimum Wage To $15 – But It Still Isn't Enough To Live On
• Read More: NJ Sees Huge Spike In Workers Postponing Retirement, Study Says

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