Former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Saikat Chakrabarti, has thrown his hat into San Francisco’s mayoral race with a bold promise: implementing a four-day workweek for city employees by 2025. His proposal comes amidst growing national conversations about work-life balance and the expanding surveillance of remote workers.
Chakrabarti, who co-founded Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress before working with Ocasio-Cortez, hasn’t minced words about his vision for San Francisco. “I want to make our city the first major American city with a four-day workweek,” he told SFGATE in an exclusive interview. His plan would start with municipal employees before expanding to private sector workers through incentive programs.
The mayoral hopeful’s proposal coincides with troubling developments in workplace monitoring. Meta recently announced plans to track when employees badge into offices, a move Chakrabarti sharply criticized. “Companies are surveilling workers more and more,” he said. “It’s a sign that our work culture has fundamentally broken down.”
According to a recent Gallup poll, 71% of American workers report feeling burnout at least sometimes, with 28% saying they feel it “very often.” These numbers have fueled interest in alternative work arrangements nationwide, with companies like Kickstarter and Shopify already experimenting with compressed schedules.
Dr. Julia Reynolds, labor economist at UC Berkeley, sees potential benefits in Chakrabarti’s proposal. “Four-day workweeks have shown promising results in productivity studies,” she explained. “A Microsoft experiment in Japan demonstrated a 40% increase in productivity when they shifted to this model.”
The mayoral candidate’s platform extends beyond work schedules. He’s advocating for a radical rethinking of San Francisco’s approach to housing, homelessness, and transportation. “We’re trapped in a mindset where we think our only choices are between the status quo and tearing it all down,” Chakrabarti noted.
His experience with progressive politics runs deep. Before working with Ocasio-Cortez, Chakrabarti served as the founding executive director of Justice Democrats, which helped elect several progressive representatives to Congress in 2018. This background has shaped his approach to city governance, emphasizing structural reforms over incremental changes.
The four-day workweek concept has gained traction globally. Iceland conducted trials between 2015 and 2019 involving 2,500 workers – roughly 1% of the country’s workforce. Researchers found productivity remained stable or improved while worker wellbeing significantly increased.
San Francisco might be particularly receptive to such innovations. The city has historically embraced progressive labor policies, including one of the nation’s highest minimum wages and comprehensive paid family leave. Tech workers, who form a substantial voting bloc, have increasingly voiced concerns about work-life balance.
Chakrabarti connects his proposal to broader economic issues. “When people have more time, they spend money in their communities,” he argued. “A four-day workweek could revitalize our neighborhood businesses still struggling after the pandemic.”
Not everyone supports the idea. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce has expressed reservations. “While we support workplace flexibility, mandating specific schedules could create unintended consequences for small businesses,” said Maria Chen, the Chamber’s policy director.
The proposal’s implementation timeline remains somewhat vague. If elected, Chakrabarti plans to establish a task force to develop recommendations within his first 100 days in office. The city would begin pilot programs with municipal departments by mid-2025.
Critics question the feasibility of extending such policies beyond government workers. “The city has limited authority to dictate private sector scheduling,” noted former supervisor Michael Thompson. “Tax incentives might help, but they’d require careful fiscal planning.”
Chakrabarti remains undeterred by such challenges. His campaign has emphasized San Francisco’s potential to lead national conversations on work culture. “This city has always been at the forefront of innovation,” he said. “Why shouldn’t that include how we structure our workweek?”
The proposal arrives as remote work monitoring technologies have proliferated. A 2023 survey by Digital Employee Experience found that 60% of companies with remote workers use some form of productivity monitoring software – up from 27% before the pandemic.
Whether San Francisco voters will embrace Chakrabarti’s vision remains to be seen. The city’s complex political landscape includes progressive activists, moderate Democrats, and business interests – all with different priorities for the next mayor.
What’s clear is that the conversation around work schedules has evolved significantly since the pandemic. As San Francisco continues its economic recovery, candidates like Chakrabarti are betting that voters are ready for fundamental reforms to how, when, and where they work.
I’ve watched San Francisco weather countless transformations over my years covering West Coast politics. This proposal might represent the next evolution in a city that has always defined itself through reinvention – sometimes to its benefit, sometimes not. The coming election will tell us which direction prevails.
