Uniqlo Wants Employees to Try Four-Day Workweeks

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Uniqlo wants to up its retention rates for full-time store employees, so the company is trying out a new work schedule that involves three-day weekends every single week. Bloomberg reports that the test program is only in Japan for now, and 10,000 full-time employees will have the option of signing up for the four-day workweek in October. If this trial works out, Uniqlo might expand the program to their corporate headquarters and to more stores.

Here's how Uniqlo's four-day workweek program is set up: store employees will work 10-hour days in order to get three days off per week. The downside to the schedule is that everyone who opts in must work Saturdays and Sundays, which are the busiest days for the stores. Bloomberg reports that Uniqlo's parent company Fast Retailing is hoping the four-day workweek could appeal to full-time employees who are looking to spend more time with their families or elderly parents.