Breaking News English

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

Microsoft called the trial the Work-Life Choice Challenge. The company said it [target / aimed] , "to create an environment [which / where] each employee can choose a [diversion / diverse] and flexible way of working [accordance / according] to the circumstances of their work and [life / live] ". Other aspects of the trial included shortening the [length / longing] of meetings to a maximum of 30 minutes and encouraging workers to choose online chats over face-to-face [one / ones] . There were additional advantages [to / on] the trial. Microsoft said that 23 per cent less electricity was [eaten / 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 / spurt] .