In some companies, employers allow employees to work only four days a week while offering the same salary. In my view, the advantages of this approach clearly outweigh the disadvantages, because having three days off can reduce stress and burnout.
On the one hand, a four-day week has some clear drawbacks. Firstly, supermarkets or hospitals in Turkey work only five days until 7 pm. Only one supermarket, pharmacy, or hospital works seven days and twenty-four hours in each region of the country. That leads to many problems, for example, if someone broke his leg, it would be a problem to find a hospital there. Moreover, you should fit five workdays’ load into just four days. For instance, if there are 20 documents to write a day for the statistic specialist in a five-workday week, he or she should write 25 documents daily in a four-workday week.
On the other hand, the advantages are far more important. Rested staff have more productive work with high motivation, so they will make fewer mistakes in exact tasks. In addition, students who work at part-time jobs after classes benefit. For instance, students who study at the medical university and at the same time work at a pharmacy may pay more attention to their medical fields in a shorter working week. Therefore, without a cut in pay, they can do their homework too with high quality.
In conclusion, although a standard working week brings some benefits, such as regular shifts and fewer working hours, I personally believe that the advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages, because having an extra day off can diminish stress and increase motivation of employees.