In today’s rapidly evolving world, workers are often exhausted by the long working week. Therefore, many people hold the opinion that the business week should be shortened in order that employees have an extended weekend to rest. While the proposed change might benefit people to some extent, it will largely result in lower job satisfaction and work productivity and this essay will prove it.
Granted, one might argue that with a longer weekend break, individuals will have time for their hobbies or enjoy their family company; Thus, they believe the level of work fulfillment will rise and eventually workers may feel happier. However, as has already been scientifically proven, happiness and satisfaction are mostly contributed by a substance called dopamine. According to research, dopamine is strongly associated with pleasure and reward and can be created through recreational activities and sadly also drugs. While of course having an extended weekend allows people to spend more time on healthy entertainment, some might also use all their time for detrimental indulgences such as smoking or gambling. If individuals get addicted to harmful pleasures, their average dopamine level will rise. With a higher dopamine level, only addictive destructive pastimes can satisfy them and often they will not want to work anymore, resulting in a reduction in occupational happiness.
To add further credence to my assertion, I will point out the fact that longer weekends by all means will harm job productivity, on both personal and business levels. Of course, people may think that the transformation allows drained employees to rest more, and they might be more productive in the next week thanks to the break, and even with fewer days, the production capacity would not fall but would increase significantly. However, this will only apply during the initial few weeks, and after that, the majority of us may experience little to no difference as we acclimate to a longer break. Afterward, the productivity per day will theoretically reduce to the former state, and with a shorter workweek, the overall productivity is likely to reduce as a result. Looking at a further scale, all industries could experience a reduced work rate if this change occurred.
In conclusion, while shortening the weekday potentially benefits people, in practice it may more often than not be harmful to workers’ performance and career contentment. Therefore, keeping the weekend the same will be a wiser approach.