4 Days, 40 Hours
{{Short description|1971 book}}
{{Infobox book
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| image = 4 Days, 40 Hours.jpg
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| author = Riva Poor
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| language = English
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| publisher = Bursk and Poor Publishing
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| pub_date = July 17, 1971
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| isbn = 978-0451612328
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4 Days, 40 Hours is a 1971 book by Riva Poor reporting on a "revolution in work and leisure" from a rearranged work week with four days of 10 hours each.{{cite journal |last1=Rotenberg |first1=Ronald T. |last2=Martin |first2=Dennis |title=The Rearranged Work Week: What Effect on Marketing? |journal=Business Quarterly |date=Autumn 1977 |volume=42 |issue=3 |page=58 |id={{ProQuest|224804738}} }} In some cases, the book claims, companies can increase production and profit while giving employees more time off."[http://www.lib.niu.edu/1971/IP71078.html The 4-Day Work Week Is Coming ...]", Illinois Parks and Recreation, 9 July/August, 1971.{{Cite book|title = 4 days, 40 hours and other forms of the rearranged workweek|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qmVMAAAAMAAJ|publisher = New American Library|date = 1973-01-01|language = en|first = Riva|last = Poor}}
The book was inspired by an article in the Boston Globe about the successful introduction of the four-day week in a Kyanize Paints factory in Everett, Massachusetts.{{cite news |last1=Botwright |first1=Ken |title=The 4-Day Work Week Is Spreading |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55934552/hartford-courant/ |access-date=23 July 2020 |work=Parade |date=July 11, 1971}}
Reception
In 1971, the book received attention in a New York Times article that tied it to a growing trend in companies to allow a four-day workweek.{{cite news |last1=Salpukas |first1=Ages |title=4-Day, 40-Hour Work Week Gains in Small Companies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/20/archives/4day-40hour-work-week-gains-in-small-companies.html |access-date=23 July 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=March 20, 1971 |page=23}} Heartened by the response, Poor said, "I predict that within the next five years just about every business in the country will be giving it serious consideration." In another article about the four-day workweek in 1976, The New York Times called 4 Days, 40 Hours "the definitive reference work in this field."{{cite news |last1=Sloane |first1=Leonard |title=Management |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/20/archives/management-moving-ahead-with-the-4day-work-week-management.html |access-date=23 July 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=August 20, 1976}}
A 1975 review of the book's second edition in The Journal of Human Resources said that Poor "can only be described as radiantly positive about [the 4-day workweek's] potential for good, and utterly unconvinced by the negative criticism from trade union and other sources... She is definitely not impressed by the argument that 10-hour days are fatiguing, or that they represent a regression to 19th century standards." While she does not give much attention to alternatives, "this focus does permit her to concentrate on presenting us with a spirited defense of a four-day, 40-hour schedule, and, as such, her book is to be recommended."{{cite journal |last1=Owen |first1=John D. |title=Review: 4 Days, 40 Hours |journal=The Journal of Human Resources |date=Spring 1975 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=264–265 |doi=10.2307/144831 |jstor=144831 }}
The book's publication led to an increase in her management consulting work; according to a 1979 UPI profile, "The book quickly became a hot item in American industry, and her star was launched."{{cite news |title=Riva Poor wants to be a business star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55935584/bennington-banner/ |access-date=23 July 2020 |agency=United Press International |date=June 23, 1979}}
However, the concept did not actually catch on, and in 1989, an article in the Boston Globe called it "a management fad that went the way of zero-based budgeting and the Boston Consulting Group's cow-and-doggy grid."{{cite news |last1=Beam |first1=Alex |title=Who the Heck is Riva Poor? |work=Boston Globe |date=February 1, 1989 |id={{ProQuest|294457134}} }}
David Hamilton wrote, "Her research indicates that the shorter week is most successful in small, nondiversified industries."[https://web.archive.org/web/20050509112406/http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF001972/Hamilton/Hamilton03/Hamilton03.html Alicia Patterson Foundation website]
A review by Leon E. Lunden in Monthly Labor Review reads, ""repetitive and spotty as it is in part, the book nevertheless reflects the enthusiasm of the various authors for 4-40 and their conviction that it will spread rapidly".{{cite journal |last1=Lunden |first1=Leon E. |title=The long weekend |journal=Monthly Labor Review |date=1971 |volume=94 |issue=7 |pages=74–75 |jstor=41838345 }}