Multiple matching
You are going to read an extract. For questions 1-10, choose from the sections (A-E). The sections may be chosen more than once.
One Less Day, More Questions: Rethinking the Working Week
The hidden costs and surprising benefits of the four-day working week
Productivity: Miracle Cure or Statistical Sleight of Hand?
The four-day week has been marketed with a kind of evangelical certainty: compress the hours, trim the meetings, and watch productivity bloom. In some organisations, that optimism is justified. When time is scarce, people stop polishing emails into literary artefacts and begin making decisions. Yet the headline claims often rely on a flattering definition of ‘output’. If your metrics reward speed and visible activity, you may simply be measuring haste. I’ve seen teams hit targets by quietly lowering the bar—reclassifying tasks, postponing maintenance, or shunting work onto the following quarter. The results look dazzling until the backlog returns with interest. There’s also a question of sector. A software company can ‘ship’ a feature and call it done; a hospital cannot ship fewer emergencies. Even in white-collar roles, the cognitive load of compressing work may be underestimated. A four-day week can become a five-day week in disguise, with employees checking messages on the nominal day off to avoid Monday chaos. Ironically, the policy designed to protect attention can end up fragmenting it—unless management is brave enough to redefine what truly matters and what can be dropped without apology.
Which section suggests that impressive productivity figures may be the result of moving work around or redefining what counts as success, rather than genuine efficiency?
In which section does the writer argue that the viability of a four-day week depends heavily on the kind of industry, because some services cannot simply reduce demand?
Which section warns that the supposedly ‘free’ day can be swallowed up by domestic obligations and practical admin, rather than experienced as genuine rest?
Which section criticises the idea that leisure time automatically improves wellbeing, because people may start treating the day off as another performance target?
In which section does the writer claim that the main wellbeing benefit often comes from stricter organisational habits (e.g., fewer meetings and clearer priorities) rather than the extra day itself?
Which section highlights resentment about who ends up carrying the remaining workload when hours are reduced but staffing is not increased?
Which section expresses scepticism about ‘four-day week’ schemes that function as a disguised reduction in pay while expectations stay the same?
In which section does the writer contrast the advantages of a shared day off with the practical benefits of staggered leave, noting that each option has a significant drawback?
Which section suggests that even doubters may come to support the reform because it forces organisations to confront time-wasting routines that have long been tolerated?
Which section argues that the environmental impact is not guaranteed to be positive, because people might use the extra day in ways that cancel out any savings?
0 of 10 answered