More than 3,300 workers are undergoing a four-day working week experiment in the United Kingdom, which allows them to take home 100 per cent of pay while only needing to work 80 per cent of contracted working hours. The aim is to achieve at least the same level of productivity as during a five-day week but with an enhanced level of “well-being”.

The truth is that the four-day week is likely to mean a fall in real wages. Wage rises are driven by productivity improvement, and while it may be true that working 80 per cent of contracted hours is likely to produce the same output, one has to remember productivity measures are dynamic.

If workers can achieve 100 per cent in four days, the production goal is likely to be elevated to above 100 per cent, with little rise in wages. Eventually, the worker might only be paid a little over 100 per cent of what he or she earns now, but be required to meet an output of around 120 per cent of the current level. That is, of course, unless the original output is outlined explicitly in contracts, but that would be extremely impractical and undermine Hongkongers’ hardworking nature.