“A Sea of Change is Coming” As Lawmakers, Businesses and Advocacy Groups Work to Push for a Four Day Work Week to Save Our Communities and the Planet

On March 12, 2024, Time magazine published an article titled “What It’s Really Like to Have a 4-Day Workweek.” In it, the magazine celebrated the good news about how the implementation of a four-day work week will bring significant changes to the American workforce. According to the report, this change will benefit not only workers who are “missing out in life,” but more importantly, it will also help protect the health of our planet.

Time magazine published the following:

• “There’s growing momentum for an even more condensed schedule, with major companies—including Panasonic, Kickstarter, and the online thrift store ThredUp—trying out four-day workweeks.” [1]

• “We’ve all been working far too hard, and we’re missing out on life,” says Charlotte Lockhart, co-founder of 4 Day Week Global, a group pushing for shorter workweeks worldwide. “It’s affecting our health and our planet and our communities.” [1]

• “Pilot studies in countries including the U.K., Spain, Portugal, and South Africa suggest that shorter workweeks can help employees reduce burnout, manage stress, get more sleep and exercise, spend additional quality time with loved ones, and feel all-around happier and healthier.” [1]

• “Lawmakers in states including Maryland, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and California seem to be focusing on the positive, introducing bills that would encourage four-day workweeks or at least enable further research on them. Bernie Sanders, chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, has pushed for four-day weeks as well.” [1]

• “It’s hardly a new phenomenon for people to want to work less, says Juliet Schor, a sociology professor at Boston College who studies working hours. But with growing support from employers and lawmakers, she believes a sea change is coming.” [1]

This is a call that echoes a recent Senate Committee hearing on reducing the work week so that people can return to church on Sundays. [2] Time Magazine has now joined forces with major corporations in America to support the four-day work week. Business models are changing in front of our eyes, and workers, labor unions, business leaders, and lawmakers will all support a shorter work week with Sunday off in order to protect our social and economic institutions.

We must always remember that Sunday laws will fulfill Bible prophecy and usher in the end of all things earthly. And when we see efforts to implement policies that favor Sundays, it is a sign that we have work to do for God and a message that extols the principles of freedom. We must educate the public on religious liberty and the dangers of Sunday laws. This is part of the gospel commission and the core of the Third Angel’s message. We cannot rest until our work is completed.

“The Sunday movement is now making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue, and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither the under-current is tending. Its professions are mild, and apparently Christian; but when it shall speak, it will reveal the spirit of the dragon. It is our duty to do all in our power to avert the threatened dancer. We should endeavor to disarm prejudice by placing ourselves in a proper light before the people” (Review and Herald, December 11, 1888).

Sources

[1] https://time.com/6964101/4-day-work-week-benefits/

[2] http://adventmessenger.org/us-senate-committee-hearings-on-a-32-hour-work-week-argued-that-people-cannot-attend-church-on-sundays-if-they-work-70-hours/