The emergence of different enabling technologies, particularly those that are based on artificial intelligence could help in the implementation of a 4-day working (32 hours week, thus replacing the current long hours working culture in the United Kingdom. In reference to Hughes (2018), the advancement made so far in technology has helped significantly improve the efficiency levels of businesses and the productivity levels of employees. This observation is supported by Wisskirchen et al. (2017) who observe that robotic and artificial intelligence technologies have created for businesses and organisations to enhance efficiency, as well as improve work flexibility, thus giving employees a chance to work for shorter hours. Wisskirchen et al. (2017) further observe that such technologies have made it possible for employers to require employees only at specific times since most of the time the work is automated and can be monitored even from remote places such as from the employees’ homes. This is facilitated by the fact that robotic and artificial intelligence technologies have made it possible for machines to perform simple and repetitive tasks, thus freeing employees from certain tasks and giving them more freedom in terms of time.
不同赋能技术的出现，特别是基于人工智能的技术，有助于实施4天工作制（每周32小时），从而取代英国目前的长时间工作文化。参考Hughes（2018），迄今为止在技术方面取得的进步有助于显著提高企业的效率水平和员工的生产力水平。这一观察得到了Wisskirchen等人（2017）的支持世卫组织观察到，机器人和人工智能技术已经为企业和组织创造了提高效率和提高工作灵活性的机会，从而使员工有机会缩短工作时间。Wisskirchen等人（2017年）进一步观察到，这些技术使得雇主可以只在特定时间要求雇员，因为大部分时间工作都是自动化的，甚至可以从遥远的地方（例如从雇员的家中）进行监控。机器人和人工智能技术已经使其成为可能，这就促进了这一点机器可以执行简单且重复的任务，从而将员工从某些任务中解放出来，并在时间上给予他们更多的自由。
Importantly, technology has its strengths and weaknesses as far as creating an opportunity for shorter working hours is concerned. A SWOT analysis of technology reveals that one of its key strengths that that could help reduce the working hours of employees is its ability to accurately and efficiently complete repetitive tasks within a short time, thus freeing the time employees could have spent on such tasks (Green, 2012). Similarly, technology helps employees to perform certain tasks even when they are not present at their workplace. For instance, employees in the 21st century can remotely monitor the production processes in firm. Despite this strength, one of the major weaknesses of technology is embedded in the fact that a smaller error could lead to huge losses for the firm. Furthermore, technology is not self-reliant and still needs constant monitoring. Importantly, advancements in the development of artificial technology present an opportunity to create fully self-reliant workplaces that will require minimal monitoring and supervision. Whereas this is the case, such technologies pose threats to employment opportunities since they could end up taking jobs from human beings.
重要的是，就创造缩短工作时间的机会而言，技术有其优势和劣势。对技术的SWOT分析表明，其有助于减少员工工作时间的关键优势之一是能够在短时间内准确高效地完成重复性任务，这样，员工就可以腾出时间来完成这些任务（Green，2012）。类似地，技术可以帮助员工完成某些任务，即使他们不在工作场所。例如，21世纪的员工可以远程监控公司的生产过程。尽管有这一优势，但技术的一个主要弱点在于一个较小的错误可能导致巨大的损失此外，技术不是自力更生的，仍然需要不断的监控。重要的是，人工技术的发展为创造完全自力更生的工作场所提供了机会，而这种工作场所只需要最少的监控和监督。在这种情况下，这些技术对员工构成了威胁因为他们最终可能会从人类手中夺走工作，所以他们创造了许多机会。
One of the firms that recently adopted a four day week is Advice Direct Scotland. Notably, after implementing a four day working week for all its 68 staff, the company did not reduce the pay for its employees (Anderson, 2018). On the contrary, it still maintained the salary it was paying them when they worked for five days a week. Importantly, the company reported that its employees were happy, committed to the company and more productive. Thus, despite reducing the number of days that its employees work per week, the company had not experienced a decline in its productivity levels. From the perspective of Hertzberg’s two-factor theory, a workplace that offered flexible working terms was likely to enhance the motivation and loyalty levels of its employees, thus enhancing its performance levels in the long run (Alshmemri, Shahwan-Akl & Maude, 2017). Furthermore, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory postulates that shorter working hours could help boost employees’ self-esteem needs, which is one of the critical needs in this theory (Griffin, 2011). Importantly despite the fact that Advice Direct Scotland has successful implemented a four day working week in its human resource management, this does not imply that shorter working week works for every company. On the contrary, studies indicate that labour intensive industries such as supermarkets may find it difficult to implement shorter working period for their employees (Young, 2017).
最近采用四天工作周的公司之一是苏格兰咨询公司。值得注意的是，在对其所有68名员工实施了四天工作周后，该公司并未降低其员工的薪酬（Anderson，2018）。相反，该公司仍然保持每周工作五天时支付给他们的工资。重要的是，该公司报告称，其员工很开心，对公司很投入，而且工作效率更高。因此，尽管员工每周工作的天数减少了，但该公司的产量并未下降积极性水平。从赫兹伯格的双因素理论来看，提供灵活工作条件的工作场所有可能提高员工的动机和忠诚度水平，从而提高长期绩效水平（Alshmemri，Shahwan Akl&Maude，2017）此外，马斯洛的需求层次理论假设，缩短工作时间有助于提升员工的自尊需求，这是该理论中的关键需求之一（Griffin，2011）重要的是，尽管Advice Direct Scotland在其人力资源管理中成功地实施了每周四天工作制，但这并不意味着缩短工作周对每个公司都有效。相反，研究表明，超市等劳动密集型行业可能难以实施缩短工作周其员工的黄金时期（Young，2017年）。