{"id":2550,"date":"2023-10-24T10:31:49","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T10:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/polaris-elements.co.uk\/?p=2550"},"modified":"2023-10-24T10:37:20","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T10:37:20","slug":"four-day-working-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/polaris-elements.co.uk\/four-day-working-week\/","title":{"rendered":"The Four-Day Working Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Did Weekends Start?<\/b><\/h1>\n

Considering a four-day working week for your business? 100 years ago it was likely that you only had one day off (if you were lucky).<\/p>\n

When did weekends become a thing?<\/a> Dependent on which country you live in the general rules of thumb around how weekends came into existence are the same. In 19th Century Britain, Saint Monday (Sunday) was a holy day where no one was expected to work, but many took the opportunity to enjoy their Saturday evenings and into Sunday which made Monday a very difficult day.<\/p>\n

Productivity dropped in the factories as this became the norm so employers decided to extended the weekend to a half day Saturday, which was popular with workers, decreased absence and satisfied the unions.<\/p>\n

In the US Sunday was a holy day for Christians and no one worked, in 1908 employers began to recognise that they should consider the Jewish holy day Shabbat (Sabbath) which started Friday at midnight through to Saturday midnight. With Henry Ford introducing a full Saturday and Sunday off for all workers in 1926 and a limited 40-hour week, thus allowing more time to spend money on consumer goods and keep cash circulating through the economy, a move officially adopted by the US to counter the unemployment caused by the Great Depression in 1932.
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The Four-Day Working Week: How Does It Work?\"Cambridge