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British Columbians are exhausted from trying to keep up with rising costs of living, inadequate healthcare, and working through a pandemic. Business owners and managers are facing a significant labour shortage and are struggling to keep employees.
It's time government started recognizing this; BC has the opportunity to became national leaders in rethinking what it means to work in Canada.
A four-day workweek – without cuts to pay or working longer hours – is exactly the kind of innovative, people-first approach that can spark renewal in our workplaces.
Sign the BC Greens petition to call on government to:
- Introduce a three-year pilot of a 32 hour workweek incentivized by a tax break for businesses – similar to a proposed bill in the state of Maryland
- Mandate that as part of the pilot, businesses are required to report data to the province to better determine how to balance reduced work hours, while maintaining the same rate of pay, with benchmarks like productivity, employee wellbeing, and employer satisfaction
- Publish interim reports of the data and findings of the pilot every year, with a final report to be made at the conclusion of the pilot
The evidence and successful results from pilots around the world prove that a four-day week is good for businesses and good for people. You can read more about that here in our media release.
Workers want a shortened workweek, and businesses face better outcomes for it; improved work-life balance, increased productivity, employee retention, reduced carbon emissions, and employer cost savings are some of the many potential benefits of a four-day workweek.
