The impending four-day workweek will bring new questions of productivity, output, and outcomes. AI is the answer, this future-of-work strategist says.
The amount of time people spend “at work” has changed significantly over the last few centuries. Robert Whaples, a professor of economics at Wake Forest University has mapped out the history of hours of work in the U.S., which reveals a gradual decline from working “first light to dark” (70+ hours a week) to the passing of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, which eventually established the 40-hour workweek. Over the last 85 years, not much has changed in the U.S., until now. As technology improves productivity and AI helps human beings operate at our full potential, it’s going to be a matter of when, not if, we will see a four-day workweek become the norm.
