Singapore businesses doubt recent survey findings on employers’ openness to a four-day work week

A RECENT survey in which nearly seven in 10 Singapore employers found a four-day work week “feasible” may not accurately reflect ground sentiment, said business leaders.

The report, released on Tuesday (Sep 24) by recruitment consultancy Robert Walters, surveyed fewer than 100 companies in Singapore. Of these respondents, 69 per cent said a four-day work-week was a “feasible concept”.

This was part of a regional survey of over 5,000 professionals and companies across 11 Asian markets.

“This (finding) definitely doesn’t reflect the current business landscape,” said Ang Yuit, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (Asme).

“We posed the same question and we got more than 70 per cent saying: ‘No, it’s not feasible’,” he said, referring to a subsequent informal poll of around 80 Asme members.

In response to queries from The Business Times, a Robert Walters Singapore spokesperson said: “The fact that 69 per cent of them consider it feasible doesn’t mean that they are ready to implement it, but rather, they find the concept viable.

“There can still be a discrepancy between intention and action.”

In the same survey, only 18 per cent of Singapore employers said they have plans or are considering transitioning to a four-day work week within the next two years, compared with the South-east Asian average of 37 per cent.

The spokesperson added that the term “feasible” was intentionally left open to interpretation, allowing respondents to offer their views without being influenced by specific criteria.

Sectoral alignment needed

A spokesperson for the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) noted that a four-day work week could take different forms: part-time arrangements with reduced pay, for example, or compressed work weeks where the same hours are worked over fewer days.

While some firms already offer these options, businesses must manage their schedules carefully to avoid disruptions. Many companies are already operating below their ideal staffing levels and find it hard to hire more workers even if they are willing to pay, the spokesperson added.

Business owners, meanwhile, noted that while the four-day work week could be feasible in certain sectors, it may not suit smaller firms or industries that rely on round-the-clock operations.

Sectors such as healthcare or retail, which depend more on part-timers or shift-based work, have staff schedules that could lend themselves to a four-day work week.

Retailers already find it more convenient to schedule staff – including full-timers – for longer shifts over fewer days, as it simplifies rostering by reducing the number of shift changes, explained PC Dreams managing director Tan Ching Hwee.

In theory, with more staff or longer shifts, this rostering could result in a four-day week.

However, if the model is applied to full-time professionals, managers, executives, and technicians (PMETs), compressing the standard 44-hour work week into four days instead of five, the challenges become more pronounced, Ang noted.

For PMETs, introducing a four-day work week without broader industry alignment could lead to longer working hours overall, he said.

“You’re unnecessarily squeezing a lot of hours into four days, and then on your fifth day, you may still have to work, because it’s likely that people still have to talk to you,” he added.

For employers with both customer-facing and back-end staff, implementing a four-day work week for the latter could create an imbalance in support.

“Honestly, I would love to have a four-day work week, but it’s not feasible,” said Ann Goh, managing director of retailer Simply Toys Wholesale.

“The reason why our back-office staff are required to work from Monday to Friday is because they need to support our retail operations, where we serve customers seven days a week,” she said.

Otherwise, implementing a four-day work week for back-end staff would require additional workers to maintain the same level of support – exacerbating existing manpower challenges.

One company that has experimented with the compressed four-day work week is advertising firm Kobe Global Technologies.

In the first half of 2023, the company trialled the model for its full-time staff, as part of ongoing efforts to enhance employee welfare.

“I thought that my whole company would be very happy, but to my surprise, they said that it didn’t make a difference because (our) clients were still calling on our day off on Friday,” said CEO Evangeline Leong.

A subsequent attempt to give staff one Friday off per month, without requiring them to make up for the time, also fell short.

“The feedback was: ‘I still have to stand by, because we cannot say (to clients), ‘Sorry, today is our four-day work week, so I can’t reply (to) you.’ It was kind of pointless,” Leong explained.

In her view, the four-day work week can only succeed if the entire sector – including customers and suppliers – adopts it together.

Said Leong: “I’ll be happy to introduce it again if the whole industry moves together – my concern will be about alignment.”