UNITED STATES—I’ve had this conversation with several people, and I’m all for the notion of shortening the work week to four days compared to the typical five. It’s been heavily debated a lot, and what is more interesting is overseas workers are not expected to work as hard, or to the extreme that so many Americans do on a weekly basis. Why can I make this argument? Well, as someone juggling multiple jobs it’s not fun. In the past if you told someone you worked two jobs, they would huff and puff as if it was not normal.

Nowadays, if you tell someone you that you work two jobs it is the norm; it is expected in this day and age where one job just isn’t meeting ends meet. Most suffer from the dilemma of not making enough per hour or making a decent wage, but not receiving the consistent hours to sustain a household. It’s unfortunate, but the reality of the situation today.

Companies are not interested in hiring full-time employees because by doing so they fall into the range of having to pay for health insurance. Yes indeed, health insurance is an issue that is prone to discussion for so many Americans because many of us can’t afford it. Either it costs too much or the benefits of the package don’t cover all medical issues or it’s a choice between a roof over the head or health insurance. The issue here is not health insurance it’s adjusting the work week so that it’s suitable for all parties involved.

The biggest complaint I hear time and time again about shortening the work week is that it would lead to longer work hours. For many people, we work 9-11 hours any day anyway when you factor in commute time to and from work. So what harm is making the work day go from 8 hours to 10 hours? For some it might be problematic if they have children because the issues of picking up the kids from school and transporting them to extracurricular activities become problematic if you’re working longer time frames during the week.

Well there is a solution to that problem. You pay for daycare or trade shifts with your significant other so that one is home with the kids or able to pick them up from school, so that when the other gets home the other heads to work. Yes, it is not easy, but these are the times that we now live in. The notion of the stay-at-home mother no longer exists, but some people are still stuck in that mode and I cannot seem to fathom why. There is nothing wrong with both parents working outside of the home and even if that is NOT possible, one can work in-home while the other is in the actual office.

I’ve laid out a few cons of switching the work week to 4 vs. 5 days, but what about some of the pros. Well, it might enforce a bit more efficiency. What do I mean by that? No one wants to take their work home with them, so getting whatever needs to be done before the week wraps make a huge difference. On top of that, imagine you are the typical American who works the 9-5 Mon-Fri, what is the problem with that? You are limited to conducting any business you might need to complete during the week. If you work during business hours, it makes it virtually impossible to get anything you might need to get done, actually done.

So if you’re only working 4 days during the typical work week, there is a likely chance you’ll have one of the week days off allowing you to complete any business that you may need to complete. I mean, I used to have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off for the longest time frame, and out of the blue my employer adjusts my work schedule. That is the one thing I think everyone who works wants: consistency. Changing work days and shifting hours can cause so much more havoc than people can imagine. You get comfortable and you plan your days, your week around those days and hours you work, so if they suddenly change, it’s a game changer of sorts.

On top of that, a shortened work week allows many to have the weekends off. I get into tiffs with people all the time who think it’s the norm for everyone to have the weekends off, but that is NOT the case. There are plenty of people who always work during the weekend and don’t get that luxury that so many other people get all the time.

By having Americans work 4 days, there is a very strong likelihood they’ll get either Friday, Saturday or Sunday off during the week. Tell me, who in the world wouldn’t love to have one of those days off during the week. I mean some people work Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays all the time. So the notion of having the WEEKEND OFF is foreign to them. Trust, I know the feeling it was my livelihood for nearly 15 years. Imagine that, never getting to sleep in on the weekend, never being able to watch TV, never really being able to go out without worrying about rather you’d be able to get up in time to go to work the next day.

Perhaps we should consider a trial run of a shortened work week, just to see how people respond to it, to see how it impacts the workforce and the business world. I mean would people be all for a shorter work week if it led to booming business across the globe? I’m certain it would people, just saying, think about it.