The technology company Microsoft has said it successfully trialed a four-day working week in Japan,

which saw improvements in workers' productivity and job satisfaction. The trial took place over the
summer at the tech giant's headquarters in Tokyo. Employees were given every Friday off as paid leave
in August. The company monitored the effects a three-day weekend would have on workers'
performance. Company executives said the shorter working week resulted in additional benefits.
Productivity rose by 40 per cent and 92 per cent of employees expressed their satisfaction with the
scheme. The trial could lead to a change in Japan's infamous workplace practices of long hours and lots
of overtime.

Microsoft called the trial the Work-Life Choice Challenge. The company said it aimed, "to create an
environment where each employee can choose a diverse and flexible way of working according to the
circumstances of their work and life". Other aspects of the trial included shortening the length of
meetings to a maximum of 30 minutes and encouraging workers to choose online chats over face-to-
face ones. There were additional advantages to the trial. Microsoft said that 23 per cent less electricity
was consumed and 59 per cent fewer pages were printed compared with August 2018. Microsoft will
conduct another experiment in Japan later this year and has asked employees for their input.

Paragraph 1

      1.Trialed . d a. Well known for some bad quality or action.

      2.Satisfaction .f b. The place or building serving as the managerial and
administrative center of an organization.
      3.Headquarters .b c. Looked at and checked the progress or quality of
something over a period of time.
      4.Leave .g d. Tested a new product or process to assess its suitability or
performance.
      5.Monitored .c e. A person with senior managerial responsibility in a
business organization.
      6.Executive .e f. The fulfillment of one's wishes, expectations, or needs, or
the pleasure derived from this.
      7.infamous .a g. A period of time when one has permission to be absent
from work or from duty in the armed forces.

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      8. Diverse .n h. Particular parts or features of something.

      9. Flexible .k i. Helping or stimulating an activity, state, or view to
develop.
      10.Circumstances .m j. Ideas or a contribution of work, information, or material.
      11.Aspects .h k. Ready and able to change so as to adapt to different
circumstances.
      12.Encouraging .i l. Use up a resource like electricity, energy, etc.
      13.Consumed .l m. Facts or conditions connected with or relevant to an event
or action.
      14.Input .j n. Very different
Put these words into the spaces in the paragraph below.
tech
effects
successfully
infamous
additional
leave
expressed
improvements

The technology company Microsoft has said it successfully trialed a four-day working week in
Japan, which saw improvements in workers' productivity and job satisfaction. The trial took
place over the summer at the tech giant's headquarters in Tokyo. Employees were given every
Friday off as paid leave in August. The company monitored the effects a three-day weekend
would have on workers' performance. Company executives said the shorter working week
resulted in additional benefits. Productivity rose by 40 per cent and 92 per cent of employees
expressed their satisfaction with the scheme. The trial could lead to a change in Japan's infamous
workplace practices of long hours and lots of overtime.

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. What did you think when you read the headline?

Usually, the companies which look for some ways to get more productivity used to put pressure
on their employees. Having this kind of experience which could benefit company and the
workers is a virtuous process.

2. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'work'?

In my opinion ‘work’ is linked to difficulties, obligations, even if you like your job, you have to
be in some disciplined behavior when you are employed work for companies or someone.

3. How hard do you work?

One of the hard things about my job is when a client asks for some service and I have to respond
immediately. Technical problems need some time for analyzing and solving.

Other hard things are business trips between towns and countries, to meet clients or to fix
problems. I have to wake up early in morning and return home late at night.

4. How productive are you?

I am productive when I feel well. I try to build friendly relationships in my office.

 5. Is a four-day working week a good idea?

I don’t know, I have to experience it first. It depends on company’s activities.

6. How satisfied are you with your job?

I am satisfied with exciting projects that I am managing and the good relationship with my
colleagues.

7. How important is job satisfaction?

Job satisfaction is important for having a better life. When you are not satisfied with your job,
you have a bad time in your office with colleagues and it can affect your private life.

8. Why might productivity rise with a shorter working week?

Productivity might rise with a shorter working week because workers have enough time to rest
and return to work with more energy and so with more productivity.

9. Would a four-day working week work for every company?

Not for every company; but it is something we can set up for specific companies, according to
their activities and after trials results.

10. What is overtime like in your country?

Executive employees always make overtimes work which are not paid by their companies.
Companies do not enforce their employees, but they fix goals, which couldn’t be reached without
overtime work.

For the other employees, usually the overtime work is paid.

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

11. Did you like reading this article? Why/not?

This article shows an innovative point of view. World is moving forward to solve
problems for better live thought this kind of initiative. I like it!

12. What do you think of when you hear the word 'week'?

For me, week means work! To be more precise: waking up early in morning, driving to
the office, working, driving back to home late at night!

13. What do you think about what you read?

 As I said before, it is a good trial even if it has to experience inon a large scale. Trial
with small group of workers could have a lot of mistakes and so lack of credibility.

14. What are your ideal working conditions?

My ideal working conditions are to work when and where I want - having possibilities to
choose any 5 days of the week as my work days; having possibilities to start early or late
in morning; having possibilities to work from my home or other places.

15. What do you think of long meetings?

A long meeting is an unprepared meeting. Meeting is not a place to discover a problem

and solve simultaneously. Good meetings need to be as shorter as possible. Sending
presentation before the meeting, getting everybody to know their role, choosing the
convenient time for it are critical steps to ensure an efficient meeting.

16. Are online chats better than face-to-face chats?

It depends! A face-to-face chat is always better than online chats, because you have more
possibilities to express your opinion with more efficiency and especially it so more when
you don`t didn’t know the person before.

When you know the person before, it could be interesting to be able to fix problems by
online chatting. You access people when and where you want. Nevertheless, it could be
boring to receive online chat at night at the weekends, private life could be affected.

17. How might a shorter working week be good for the environment?

A shorter working week might allow a worker to have his private life better organized
and feel very well and when worker feels very he could be more efficient. They could
also come to work place with more energy because he has more time to rest.

18. What do you think of Microsoft?

Microsoft is big group with big revenue. Like a lot of IT companies, it is an innovative
company. Company also has a good image because of its founder Bill Gates. Reading
about this kind of experience from Microsoft didn’t surprise me.

19. What do you think of working?

Working is more often something you do and you earn money or something else from it.

When you are poor working is an obligation to you, when you want to live without any
dependency.

When you are rich, working could be a pleasure.

20. What questions would you like to ask the Microsoft bosses?

When does he expect to applied apply 4 days week system in entire Microsoft Company?

Does he think 4 days week could be applied to Construction Companies?

Why 4 days week and not 3 days week? Did he trial other ways to improve workers
productivityies?