Why the Five-Day Workweek No Longer Makes Sense episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 19, 2026 · 32 MIN

Why the Five-Day Workweek No Longer Makes Sense

from The Next Big Idea Daily · host Next Big Idea Club

Chances are, you work five days a week. Monday through Friday. And you probably don’t think much about it, because that’s just how work works, right? But who decided that five days was the right number in the first place? As it turns out, the modern workweek wasn’t thoughtfully designed for focus, creativity, or even productivity. It was inherited from the Industrial Age, built for factory floors and time clocks, not knowledge workers and digital tools. So maybe it’s time for a rethink. In Do More in Four: Why It’s Time for a Shorter Workweek, researcher and work redesign strategist Joe O’Connor and journalist Jared Lindzon make the case that working less can actually help us do better work. Sponsored By: Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at shopify.com/daily

Chances are, you work five days a week. Monday through Friday. And you probably don’t think much about it, because that’s just how work works, right? But who decided that five days was the right number in the first place? As it turns out, the modern workweek wasn’t thoughtfully designed for focus, creativity, or even productivity. It was inherited from the Industrial Age, built for factory floors and time clocks, not knowledge workers and digital tools. So maybe it’s time for a rethink. In Do More in Four: Why It’s Time for a Shorter Workweek, researcher and work redesign strategist Joe O’Connor and journalist Jared Lindzon make the case that working less can actually help us do better work. Sponsored By: Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at shopify.com/daily

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Why the Five-Day Workweek No Longer Makes Sense

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This episode was published on January 19, 2026.

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Chances are, you work five days a week. Monday through Friday. And you probably don’t think much about it, because that’s just how work works, right? But who decided that five days was the right number in the first place? As it turns out, the modern...

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