Upgrading Nonprofit Workplaces: Flourishing with Fewer Hours - with Betsy Leondar-Wright, Ph.D. (Guest Host), Adam Jespersen, and Juliet Schor, Ph.D.

What if one of the most powerful ways nonprofits can strengthen their workforce is to make people spend less time at work?

Betsy Leondar-Wright, Fund the People Research Director, guest hosts to introduce new case studies that amplify how nonprofits are improving their working conditions. The episode focus on our case study on work time.

Adam Jespersen (Montana Nonprofit Association) describes how his organization moved from pandemic exhaustion to a four-day workweek with no reduction in pay—and why the change has stuck.

Then Dr. Juliet Schor (Boston College and Four Day Week Global) puts the case study into context. Drawing on research involving hundreds of organizations, she discusses what happens to workers, jobs, and organizational performance when work time is reduced.

The episode closes by considering what shorter workweeks could mean for nonprofits in an era of AI-driven productivity gains.

Download the transcript in .pdf format.

Guests:

Adam Jespersen, MBA, became the executive director of the Montana Nonprofit Network after more than a decade of progressive experience in nonprofit leadership.

Betsy Leondar-Wright, PhD, is the Research Director at Fund the People, coordinating the Upgrading Nonprofit Workplaces study. A long-time economic justice advocate, she is the author of Missing Class and a co-author of Is It Racist? Is It Sexist? and The Color of Wealth

Juliet Schor, PhD, an economist and a professor of sociology at Boston College, is a principal researcher on 4 Day Week Global’s international study of companies who are implementing four day workweeks. She is the author of The Overworked American and The Overspent American, as well as the new book Four Days a Week: The Life-Changing Solution for Reducing Employee Stress, Improving Well-Being, and Working Smarter.

Links to Resources:

Flourishing with Fewer Hours - Fund the People Case Study featuring Montana Nonprofit Association https://fundthepeople.org/case-study-hours-of-work/

Upgrading Nonprofit Workplaces research series from Fund the People https://fundthepeople.org/upgrading-nonprofit-workplaces/

Montana Nonprofit Association (https://mtnonprofit.org/)

Four Days a Week: The Life-Changing Solution for Reducing Employee Stress, Improving Well-Being, and Working Smarter by Dr. Juliet Schor https://www.harpercollins.com/products/four-days-a-week-juliet-schor?variant=43110374866978

The Overworked American by Dr. Juliet Schor https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/juliet-b-schor/the-overworked-american/9780465054343/?lens=basic-books

The Overspent American by Dr. Juliet Schor: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-overspent-american-juliet-b-schor?variant=32154061406242

4 Day Global - International support organization for four-day workweek: https://www.4dayweek.com/

Work Four - The National Campaign for the 4-Day Workweek https://workfour.org/

Doing More With Less: Positive Results of a Four-Day Work Week in the Community Impact Sector - Report by Impact Organizations of Nova Scotia, April 2024 https://ions.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IONS-Possibility-Brief_Spring-2024.pdf

All Due Respect appearances on the Fund the People Podcast:

From 7% to 107%: Investing in Organizers Supercharges Impact - with Geraldine Alcid (Filipino Advocates for Justice) and Rebecca Gorena (All Due Respect), S9:E16, published 05/06/26, 44 min. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-7-to-107-investing-in-organizers-supercharges/id1531813289?i=1000766550744
Thriving Wages for Community Organizers - with Gaby Hernandez (Orale), and Kara Park (All Due Respect), S7:E26, published 06/04/25, 53 min. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thriving-wages-for-community-organizers/id1531813289?i=1000711155176

Fair Labor Standards for Community Organizers with Kinzie Mabon (All Due Respect) and Kevin Simowitz (All Due Respect), S3:E8, published 11/09/22, 47 min. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fair-labor-standards-for-community-organizers-with/id1531813289?i=1000585612468