People Can Bear Much Hardship and Pain, but Not the Loss of Meaning

Answers to questions from iDNES.cz on the four-day working week, April 2025.

The four-day working week is becoming a trend in various parts of Europe. Companies in Iceland or Belgium, for example, offer it to their employees. What is your view, and your company’s view, of this issue?

I believe that a four-day working week must reflect the real state of the economy’s overall condition and be rationally grounded – not only economically, but anthropologically and in the broader context. As we already know from history, people will not use the time for their own development when human work is replaced by robotisation. Life changes, but human beings do not. Moreover, I am deeply convinced that the path to success is precisely deferred consumption: the willingness to step out of comfort and to sacrifice what is needed to reach the goal.

Are you considering a shorter working week, or would you consider one in the future, and under what conditions or “constellation”?

So far I have only wondered what a week would look like in which we moved Friday to Thursday…

Would something like that be feasible in your field?

Given the seasonal nature of the work and the varied duties of individual employees, it does not make much sense.

What advantages can a shorter working week have for employees, in your view? Does it have any benefits?

More personal time…

Where, on the other hand, do you see the pitfalls? (How should one organise work so that a person can finish it in 4 days instead of 5? I assume the volume of work remains the same.)

I think that doing five days’ work in four is like squaring the circle, although I do not question the possibility of performance. But performance is determined not by time but by personal disposition.

Could a shorter week bring any benefits for the company itself? (For example, financial savings – lower energy costs, cleaning and so on?)

I think the balance of savings and losses would not favour a shorter week.

Can the approach to this issue differ among generations – younger versus older?

Certainly, every generation has its own story and lifestyle, but awareness of the economic and philosophical connections should not be determined by generation.

And then, as in politics, the answer is determined by general perspective and knowledge, or by short-sightedness about needs.

In my view, the answer requires a comprehensive perspective and the realisation that not every effort to simplify life is a true good for human beings. People can bear many hardships and much pain, but not the loss of meaning. Without the complexity of all the questions, any ad hoc answer calls into question the human entity and, in consequence, reduces the person to a labour force. Paradoxically, by this apparent advantage we deny in the human being what is most essential.