95% of employers say no to four-day work week

The top reason is that business operations do not permit a four-day workweek.

95% of employers in Singapore would not implement a four-day work week, a survey by the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) revealed.

SNEF defines a four-day work week as a schedule where employees work four days a week (i.e. 8/9 hours per day, up to 36 hours per week) instead of the traditional five days (i.e. up to 44 hours per week), whilst receiving the same compensation as if they are working for five days.

Amongst the 330 employers who responded to the poll, nearly 8 in 10 employers said they will not and will also not be interested to implement a four-day work week across their organisation. A mere 18 employers opined that they would implement a four-day workweek.

The top three reasons cited by employers polled, across sectors and employment sizes, that will not implement a four-day work week are: (1) Business operations do not permit a four-day work week e.g. business runs 24/7 (2) Unable to increase productivity to offset reduction in capacity and (3) Higher costs due to additional manpower needed to plug the gaps.

Meanwhile, amongst the small number of employers polled who indicated that they will (5%) or is interested (16%) in implementing a four-day work week in their organisation, strengthening their organisation’s employee value proposition, improving employees’ well-being, and improving employees’ job satisfaction were their top three reasons for doing so.  

SNEF ran the poll from 30 September to 7 October 2024, to find out the receptiveness of employers towards implementing a four-day work week across their organisations in Singapore.