Starting the 4-day week trend

As co-founder of 4 Day Week Global, Andrew Barnes has a front-row seat to the world’s largest experiment on the effects of scaling back the workweek. It started with Barnes’s own New Zealand company, Perpetual Guardian, when he wondered whether his staff members could do their jobs better if they worked the equivalent of four days instead of five. It would be crucial, he knew, to still deliver the same output, customer service, and profitability. He landed on what he calls the 100-80-100 rule: “We pay 100pc income for 80pc time, as long as we get 100pc output.” The trial made global headlines — “We stopped counting when we got over about 14,000” — and Barnes was inundated with requests for advice. He started a not-for-profit organisation and began helping companies with their own pilots, providing virtual workshops, mentoring others, and networking opportunities. The results, which now include data from 91 companies and 3,500 workers, have been analysed by a team of academics.

(Adapted from “The Four-Day Workweek: How To Make It Work In Your Organisation,” by Andrew Barnes, published on June 29, 2023, by MIT Sloan Management Review)

Lead poisoning pitfalls

Tracy Fitchhorn worked with lead solder. Her husband, Dan Fitchhorn, spliced lead cables. Her father, Peter Hopkins, handled lead as an installer and repairman. All worked for decades for telecom companies. All are now sick. The Fitchhorns, like tens of thousands of workers at American Telephone & Telegraph and its successor companies, were exposed to lead on the job over many years. Current and former workers say they often felt left in the dark about their exposure and how to stay safe. Some of the workers have neurological disorders, kidney ailments, gastrointestinal issues and cardiovascular problems, illnesses that can be linked to lead exposure. There’s no way to determine what triggered specific ailments. Doctors say no amount of lead is safe. Current and former workers described scant precautions. Many said they learned how to handle lead on the job and weren’t given respirators or regular blood lead tests.

(Adapted “I Was Really Sick And I Didn’t Know From What,” by Shalini Ramachandran, Coulter Jones, Susan Pulliam and Thomas Gryta)

Falling luxury investments

Secondhand watch prices are falling, pulling the values of Rolexes and other well-known brands downward and unwinding a rally that brought prices to records during the pandemic. This month, the average price of a watch sold secondhand fell by 31pc since March last year, after rising steadily for much of 2021, according to data from WatchCharts, a market research platform. A WatchCharts index that tracks the secondhand prices of 30 Rolex models has slid to the lowest level since 2021, falling 14pc year-over-year. Individuals offloading watches into the market, boosting supply, have driven prices downward, according to WatchCharts CEO Charles Tian. Demand for pre-owned watches increased in 2020 as people flush with cash during the pandemic started snapping up luxury items in search of hedges against inflation and alternative sources of appreciation.

(Adapted from “That Rolex On Your Wrist Isn’t Worth As Much As You Think,” by Amina Niasse, published on July 11, 2023, by The Wall Street Journal)

Fresh starts

A new job, like a new year, is an opportunity to start fresh and to pursue career advancement opportunities that may have been lacking in your prior position. But even if you want to start with a clean slate, you may be dragging along a few bad habits or behaviours from your last role. In our first jobs, we learn by observing and doing since we come with little or no experience. If you saw your manager putting things off until the last minute or repeatedly starting meetings late, you might have thought it’s okay to do so yourself occasionally. Little did you realise that the pattern kept repeating and became ingrained as a bad habit. To truly start fresh, you’ll have to commit to making some changes. Certain habits may be lifelong challenges for you, like procrastination or overworking.

(Adapted from “Break Your Bad Habits Before Starting a New Job,” by Hanna Hart, published by HBR Ascend)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, July 24th, 2023