There’s no denying the crucial role weekends play for local small businesses on Long Island. Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday are prime times when consumers, fresh off payday, are eager to spend their hard-earned money. This weekend effect benefits small businesses including restaurants, boutiques, barbershops, beauty salons, and farmers’ markets, as they generate the bulk of their sales during this time.
These businesses thrive on weekends for two key reasons: consumer free time and disposable income. Since the majority of the working population has weekends off, there’s a surge of people looking to run errands and make purchases. Additionally, with Friday being the most common payday, consumers enter the weekend with extra cash in hand, ready to spend. The combination of free time and newly earned money drives consumers to actively engage with and support the local economy.
The four-day workweek is a highly debated form of organizational work structure. While proponents have argued for different variations, the most commonly advocated format consists of a 32-hour workweek, giving employees Fridays off. This structure, coined the “100-80-100 model,” looks for 100% of the pay at 80% of the hours, while the onus is on the employee to guarantee the original 100% productivity rate. New studies continue to emerge, marveling at the success of the four-day workweek, as some companies boast a 25% increase in revenue over the previous year and a 66% reduction of employee burnout.
Organizational psychologists, economists, and business owners alike can’t help but acknowledge the success of these pilot programs being implemented by many organizations. While some say it will take many years for this idea to come to fruition, some are taking strides at making this happen sooner rather than later. Recently, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation that would lessen the workweek to four days without a pay cut. This legislation would be monumental in improving local economies and enhancing small business as a majority of corporate America would have an extra day to spend their money by engaging in local commerce.
As the conversation around the four-day workweek gains momentum, influential figures like prominent hedge fund manager Steve Cohen recognize its potential impact on consumer behavior. Cohen recently began investing in golf courses, noting that the eventual achievement of the four-day workweek would result in a stark increase in leisure time. This increase in free time, without any reduction in pay, would lead consumers to spend more in their local economies, providing a much-needed boost to small businesses, many of which are still recovering from the impacts of Covid-19.
This shift to a four-day workweek would also transform how we, as a society, perceive the days of the week. Thursday night would become the new Friday night, and Friday would take on the role of Saturday. While this may seem advantageous for most consumers, workers in small businesses would likely see little change in their daily routines, as they would need to stay open to accommodate the shifting patterns of economic activity.
The incorporation of a 32-hour, four-day workweek would be monumental in enhancing local economies and may prove to be an exceptional government-backed response to help rebound small businesses that are still recovering from Covid-19 in the Long Island and greater New York City areas. Increasing consumers’ weekly leisure time, without a reduction in pay, is a sound formula in the output of the American dollar.
Samuel Lewis is an organizational psychologist.