Popular business articles
News and business magazines show how work is changing right now. We picked two articles that show two sides of this change. In the first one, companies try a shorter workweek and workers like it. In the second one, a company orders workers back to the office, and workers push back.
Article 1: The four-day work week
Authored by: [name]
Source: Laker & Roulet (2019), Harvard Business Review
What the article says
This article asks if the four-day workweek will spread in Europe. The writers looked at companies that already tried it. Many leaders said their workers got more work done, and the work was better. Workers also took fewer sick days and felt less stressed (Laker & Roulet, 2019).
Why it matters
A shorter week does not have to mean less work gets done. When workers are rested, they can do better work in less time. But it does not fit every job. A hospital or a store that is open every day cannot close for one day. Companies also need a clear plan before they try it
Course concepts
Job satisfaction — Job satisfaction is a worker's good feeling about their job. Work-life balance is one of the top things that makes workers satisfied. One extra day off each week gives workers a better balance.
Motivation — Motivation is the effort and staying power a person puts into reaching a goal. Rested workers have more energy, so they can put more effort into their work during the four days.
Attitudes — An attitude is how a person thinks and feels about something. Workers had a positive attitude toward the shorter week because it gave them more free time without cutting their pay.
Article 2: Workers fight the back-to-office order
Authored by: [name]
Source: Beltran (2025), Fortune
What the article says
JPMorgan Chase is one of the biggest banks in the world. In January 2025, the bank told its workers — more than 300,000 people — that hybrid work was over. Everyone had to come back to the office five days a week, starting in March. Many workers had been working from home part of the week for years, and they did not want to give that up. A group of workers started a petition asking the bank to keep hybrid work (Beltran, 2025).
Why it matters
This shows what happens when leaders make a big change without asking workers first. The bank's leaders used their power to make the rule. The workers answered by pushing back instead of just accepting it. Changes like this can hurt how workers feel about their jobs, and some workers may look for a new job.
Course concepts
Power — Power is one person's ability to make another person act the way they want. The bank's leaders used their power when they ordered everyone back to the office.
Resistance — When power is used, workers can accept it, follow it, or resist it. The petition is resistance: the workers pushed back against the rule instead of just following it.
Job satisfaction — Workers were used to a better work-life balance from hybrid work. Taking that away lowered how they felt about their jobs.
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