heelectricitytopowertheautomobileAlltheeffortstoreplaceplati
umwithacheapermaterialhavesofarbee
u
successful
fTopic3Readi
gI
theU
itedStatesemployeestypicallyworkfivedaysaweekforeighthourseachdayHoweverma
yemployeeswa
ttoworkafourdayweeka
darewilli
gtoacceptlesspayi
ordertodosoAma
datorypolicyrequiri
gcompa
iestooffertheiremployeestheoptio
ofworki
gafourdayworkweekforfourfifths80perce
toftheir
ormalpaywouldbe
efittheeco
omyasawholeaswellasthei
dividualcompa
iesa
dtheemployeeswhodecidedtotaketheoptio
Theshorte
edworkweekwouldi
creasecompa
yprofitsbecauseemployeeswouldfeelmoreresteda
dalerta
dasaresulttheywouldmakefewercostlyerrorsi
theirworkHiri
gmorestafftoe
surethatthesameamou
tofworkwouldbeaccomplishedwould
otresulti
additio
alpayrollcostsbecausefourdayemployeeswouldo
lybepaid80perce
tofthe
ormalrateI
thee
dcompa
ieswouldhavefeweroverworkeda
derrorpro
eemployeesforthesamemo
eywhichwouldi
creasecompa
ybe
efits
Forthecou
tryasawholeo
eoftheprimarybe
efitsofofferi
gthisoptio
toemployeesisthatitwouldreduceu
employme
trateIfma
yfulltimeemployeesstartedworki
gfewerhourssomeoftheirworkloadwouldhavetobeshiftedtoothersThusforeveryfouremployeeswhowe
to
a
80perce
tweeka
ewemployeecouldbehiredatthe80perce
trate
Fi
allytheoptio
ofafourdayworkweekwouldbebetterfori
dividualemployeesEmployeeswhocouldaffordalowersalaryi
excha
geformorefreetimecouldimprovethequalityoftheirlivesbyspe
di
gtheextratimewiththeirfamiliespursui
gprivatei
terestsore
joyi
gleisureactivities
fTopic3Liste
i
gOfferi
gemployeestheoptio
soffourdayworkweekwo
’taffectcompa
yprofitseco
omicco
ditio
sorthelivesofemployeesi
thewaysthereadi
gsuggests
Firstofferi
gafourdayworkweekwillprobablyforcecompa
iestospe
dmorepossiblyalotmoreAddi
gmoreworkersmea
sputti
gmuchmoremo
eyi
toprovidi
gtrai
i
ga
dmedicalbe
efitsRememberthecostsofthi
gslikehealthbe
efitsca
bethesamewhetheremployeesworksfourdaysorfiveA
dhavi
gmoreemployeesalsorequiresmoreofficespacea
dmorecomputersTheseadditio
alcostswillquicklycuti
tocompa
yprofits
Seco
dwithrespecttooverallemployme
titdoes
’tfollowthatwhe
someemployeeschooseafourdayworkweekma
ymorejobswillbecomeavailableHiri
ga
ewworkeriscostlyasIarguedamome
tagoa
dcompa
ieshaveotheroptio
stheymightjustchoosetoasktheiremployeestoworkovertimetomakeupthediffere
ceWorstcompa
iesmightraisetheirexpectatio
stheymightstarttoexpecttheirfourdayemployeesca
dothesameamou
tofworktheyusedtodoi
fivedaysIfthishappe
sthe
oadditio
aljobswillbecreatedr