Clarifying

 Our team began by brainstorming (diverging) 24 technology-related problems. We initially voted for our top five ideas. There were two final ideas that stood out. First, is protecting our personal information shared on social media. Second, the effects of using technology excessively in our daily lives, especially in the workplace, which can lead to burnout. We decided to select the second problem because the overuse of technology is correlated with burnout, which negatively affects people’s health, something that we were passionate about given the widespread nature of the problem and our own personal experience. 

Using brain writing to clarify the problem, we came up with our final problem statement: 

“The constant use of technology in many workplaces negatively impacts the overall health of people and reduces employees’ productivity and efficiency.” 

 To convince that the 4-day week idea was the best solution, we used the PPCO (Pluses, Potentials, Concerns, Obstacles) tool to gain insights into how a four-day will work for employers and employees. The summary of our PPCO: 

Pluses: Why is this a good idea?

A four-day workweek fosters time for creativity and innovation, maintains mental and physical wellness, and prevents burnout by allowing for sustainable work/life balance. This solution also benefits employers because it decreases business expenditures, shrinks carbon footprints, and lowers employee turnover.  

Potentials: This idea could do what?

This idea can attract and retain top talent, improve productivity in the workplace, become a world-wide standard, revolutionize work habits globally, and reorient our values by changing the work/life culture in the US.

Concerns: How to…? How might we…?

How might we design a feasible solution that is attractive to companies, and how can they implement and adopt it successfully? How do we boost employees’ intrinsic value without reducing pay? How can we adopt this approach without impacting productivity and promote less use of technology?  

Obstacles: What are some ways to…?

Some ways we can overcome our obstacles are by measuring the benefits/outcomes and seeing how this impact differs across industries, market our prototype through efficient analysis, and implement value creation methods.

Our Aha! moment came from three things: 

1. Understanding “digital burnout,” which defined as “feelings of anxiety, exhaustion, and apathy caused by spending too much time on digital devices.” 

2. We learned that the contributing factors include staring at a screen for an extended period and persisting stress at work. 

3. Having one fewer day in an office environment (virtual or in-person) could ease these issues which would have significant impact on time away from work and less time using work-related technology. 

An extra day would make a big different having spend time with family and friends, pursue hobbies, recharge, do community services, and more. 

One way to improve our four-day workweek model is by ensuring proper daily plans are made and delivered by employees’ management and leadership teams. Since there is one fewer day to accomplish work objectives and goals, creating daily and weekly plans will ensure that employees know what tasks are prioritized and how to effectively approach projects. Having a four-day workweek will also encourage companies to utilize automation, freeing employees of mundane tasks, such as rescheduling group meetings that would require several emails back and forth. There can also be an automated email system implemented where employees can send generic responses to emails that do not require crafted messaging. 

Employers can consider working out a shift schedule, allowing employees to select what days work best for them. For example, one employee can work Monday through Thursday, while another can work Tuesday through Friday. Implementing a plan to alternate the schedule would be in the best interest of the employees and the organization’s customers.

This product should be presented to lawmakers and government regulators, as having this implemented at the federal level would increase adoption. Due to the rise of mental health issues and technology overload, there’s an opportunity for policymakers to impact the well-being of individuals and humanity. 

To ensure this product is successful, we can help organizations by providing scheduling software, so employees can easily choose what days to work. The five-year plan is to expand our product offerings to different membership tiers and offer premium consulting to implement the four-day workweek while increasing productivity. Currently, we would be operating in the US, but we believe that this is a product that can make a global impact, and we would plan to launch into Europe and Asia next.