The 5-day work week has become a staple of modern employment that no one really questions. In the same sense, when an employee has to work on weekends or for more than 5 days a week, he or she will expect to be remunerated or “paid back” in the from of an off-in-lieu.
However, this was not always the case. The roots of the 5-day workweek can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. Back then, it was common for workers to toil from sunrise to sunset, often for six or seven days a week. As employment became more standardised in factories, so did labour organisations – namely the labour unions.
Pushing back against potentially exploitative working arrangements, labour unions quickly gained more support and power – and demanded both shorter workdays and shorter workweeks.
A significant turning point was in 1926 when Henry Ford introduced the 5-day, 40-hour workweek for factory workers at his Ford Motor Company. The business tycoon, and owner of Ford Motor Company, believed that shorter working hours would make workers more productive and, while also freeing up leisure time to consume the products they helped make – such as Ford cars.
Another argument for the 5-day workweek came during the Great Depression in the 1930s. With widespread unemployment, labour advocates argued that a 5-day workweek would help spread available work across more people.
Soon after, the U.S. formalised the 5-day, 40-hour workweek by passing the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938).
Read Also: Why We Celebrate Labour Day On 1 May
The History Of Singapore’s Work Week
While the 5-day, 40-hour workweek had been established in the U.S., this was still not the case in Singapore. Initially, Singapore workers started out with a 5.5-day workweek, with Saturday being a half-day.
Shortly after gaining independence in 1965, Singapore’s Employment Act was established in 1968, governing working hours, pay, sick leave hospitalisation leave and a host of other employment-related issues.
For example, under the clause of “Hours of work”, the Employment Act stated that: “Except as hereinafter provided, an employee must not be required under his or her contract of service to work more than 8 hours in one day or more than 44 hours in one week”.
Transitioning To A 5-Day Workweek In Singapore
While the 5.5-day workweek was the default work arrangement in Singapore for many decades, when former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong took office in August 2004, one of the first things he did as PM was to implement a 5-day workweek for government employees.
At the time, the Civil Service had already transited to working half-days every alternate Saturday. But, effective from 1 September 2004, the Singapore government introduced a 5-day workweek to “enable civil servants to strike a better work-life balance”.
Announced during his first National Day Rally (NDR) speech in 2004, PM Lee Hsien Loong also used the occasion to extend paid maternity leave by four weeks, increasing it from the previous eight weeks to 12 weeks. Incidentally, Shared Parental Leaves – which can be used by both new mothers and fathers – after their child is born was recently announced during PM Lawrence Wong’s maiden National Day Rally speech in 2024.
Despite the move to the 5-day workweek, the actual number of working hours stayed roughly the same for civil servants as more broadly the new hours for government departments were established as:
– Mondays to Thursdays: 08:30 to 18:00
– Fridays: 08:30 to 17:30
Including lunch breaks, the working hours amounted to roughly 47 hours per week. The one-hour lunch break took the weekly work-hours total down to 42 hours per week.
Since 2004, while Saturdays are now considered a “non-working day” by the Government, employers who require their staff to work longer than a 5-day workweek still aren’t committing an offence.
Read Also: Understanding The Differences Between A Rest Day & A Non-Working Day
Testing A 4-Day Workweek In Singapore?
While some industries in Singapore persist with a 5.5-day workweek, others may be more open to experimenting with the 4-day workweek to better support work-life balance.
In 2021, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said that employers could carry out pilot schemes of a 4-day workweek with their employees.
The reasoning for this is that while there is a cap on the number of working hours in the Employment Act, when it comes to a four-day workweek there is “no legal impediment to implementing such a scheme”.
While most workers in Singapore now enjoy the 5-day workweek, it bears remembering that this “default” was not always the case for employees – and the employment landscape can and will evolve with the work requirements.
Subscribe To The DollarsAndSense Business Pass
Enjoy what you are reading and want more? Join The DollarsAndSense Business Pass and unlock access to valuable tools, exclusive networking opportunities, and tap into the wisdom of industry experts to fuel your business expansion!
