Having been an employer, and currently an employee, I believe the current method of compensation to be the main crux of the work week with reduction problem. As things are currently, an employee is not generally paid based on production or value to the company; we are paid on a "time for money" trade. I spend 12 hours at work, I get paid 11.08 hours (yep the company gets 0.92 hours of my time each shift with no compensation to me for it. I did not write the contract.) This modality results in the following fundamental problem: There is, outside of personal development, no motivation to increase efficiency in any way. The minimum acceptable level of performance to maintain employment is the maximum expectation of performance.
Example: When I was an apprentice, I made $16.50 an hour. Mike, at the same apprenticeship level as me, also made $16.50/hr. Over a 10 hour day I could wire 100 receptacles, and all would pass inspection. Mike could wire 75 receptacles and 15% would fail inspection and need to be redone. I was frequently sent to sites Mike had worked at to clean up his mess and make sure the work that had been done would actually function and pass inspection. Our pay cheques were identical, however our performance levels were far different. Mike met the requirements to not get fired, I exceeded them. We worked 40 hours a week, or more. Had we been paid for each receptacle that passed inspection, I would have made twice the amount that Mike made, which would have allowed me to work 50% less, with the same end result in pay, resulting in a shorter work week.
Even worse: when efficiency is punished, confirming to employees that working faster, and smarter will result in a net loss of income. Example: After completing my apprenticeship I worked for a small company and was sent out to do a security lighting wiring job. The quote for the job was $5000.00, with a time allotment of 40 hours labour (so I get paid $1000). My boss was terrible at estimates, and lazy to boot, so his quote was horribly wrong: the job took 2 hours total, not 40. The customer still had to pay the full quoted amount of the job (seriously), however, as there was no other work that week, I made $50.00 instead of $1000. Hard lesson learned. Had I been paid for the job, not the time on the job, the time off would have been much appreciated. As it was, I left the company shortly thereafter and began working for myself, and attempted to incorporate the lessons I had learned in running my own small business.
My model was simple enough: Employees are paid the industry standard rate (so minimum acceptable to attract an employee) when they met my minimum performance levels, however, if they exceeded performance levels they were increasingly rewarded in the form of a performance bonus. That was my theory, as that is what I felt had been missing from my previous positions: NO reward for achievement. After going through 18 employees (if you don't want to be at work, and so don't really work, you have no job with me) I had a few employees that were reliable enough to keep on, but none were interested in exceeding the minimum performance levels. Unfortunate, but ok, I know I work like a dog, and not everyone is going to want to do that. I hired one temporary employee for a single day job, out of town, long hours. I was clear with him before he signed on: We travel, we work until we are done, we come home. I anticipated the job to take 14 hours, plus travel, 18 hours each, all in. He agreed with the terms and we went to work. My estimate was wrong (it happens) the job took 24 hours, plus travel. And we did it, all of it, in one shot, as planned. At the 23 rd hour we were both in the trench, swinging shovels and picks, getting it done. I paid him in cash before I dropped him off, at the agreed upon hourly rate, which he was happy with. Then I doubled it, which stunned him. Then I offered him a full apprenticeship. NO bullshit 6 month trial period. If he wanted it we could do the paperwork the next day and he would start work at $18.00/hr, not the $10.00/hr minimum wage, and have $1.50/hr increases every 6 months until he capped out at $30.00/hr. Unfortunately for both of us, he was leaving the territory as he could not find decent work there and his fiancé had already left a few weeks earlier for the same reason. I have never made that offer to any other employee again, none seemed to be willing to work for it or really want it.
Now I am an employee, I make the same rate as everyone else in my area, with similar experience. We are paid for our time, not performance, or knowledge. Just time. A reduced work week now means a reduced income, so if you can afford it, a reduced work week is possible, otherwise, better be self employed and good at what you do.