Redefining Work: Implications of the Four-Day Work Week

On Friday October 30, 2009, the Connecticut Law Review hosted its annual symposium in the William R. Davis Courtroom at the University of Connecticut School of Law.  This year’s topic was Redefining Work: Implications of the Four-Day Work Week.  A diverse group of legal scholars, economists, and other professionals examined the four-day work week as a potential vehicle for achieving a variety of economic and social benefits, including:

• reducing the conflict between work responsibilities and family/community commitments;
• improving workplace morale and reducing absentee and stress-based injury rates;
• reducing unemployment;
• reducing energy use and costs;
• improving the environment and the quality of community life by reducing commuting times.

Click here for the Symposium Publication: Volume 42, Issue 4 (May 2010)

Click here for the Symposium’s Schedule of Events 

Click below for the audio recording of each Panel:

Opening Remarks: Introduction

Panel 1: The Four-Day Work Week: Views from the Ground

Panel 2: The Law & Economics of Reduced/Compressed Work Weeks

Panel 3: Reduced/Compressed Work Weeks: Who Wins?  Who Loses?

Panel 4: Redefining Work: Possibilities and Perils

Below are links to some of the participants’ powerpoints presented at the symposium:

• Rachel Arnow-Richman: Incenting Flexibility: The Relationship Between Legal Rules and Voluntary Action in Redressing Work/Family Conflict

• Robert Bird: The Four-Day Work Week: Old Lessons, New Questions

• Rex L. Facer & Lori L. Wadsworth: Four-Day Work Weeks: Current Research and Practice

• Lonnie Golden: A Purpose for Every Time?: The Timing and Length of the Work Week and Implications for Workers' Well Being

• Michael Z. Green: Four-Day Work Weeks and Efforts Aimed at Reducing Work Time: Employer Sympathy or Circumventing Unions and Wage Hour Laws?

• Deborah Epstein Henry: The Case for Flexible and Reduced Hours: Making Work/Life Balance a Win/Win Economic Solution for Lawyers and Legal Employers

• Jennifer Hunt: If the Four-Day Work Week is so Good, Why Don't We Have it Already? And Other Economic Reflections

Click here for Past Symposia.