PBS NewsHour full episode, April 18, 2024

address food and nutritional security. I would like to emphasize my government's commitment to achieving the zero hunger goals. JACK HEWSON: Zero hunger? That's the rhetoric. But in Tigray the reality is very different. Baby Leul was brought to Ayder Hospital in Mekelle by his mother, Alem Degefu Birhan, after she was unable to produce breast milk and he was dangerously underweight. ALEM DEGEFU BIRHAN, Mother (via translator): When she was pregnant, there was a shortage of food. When I was about to give birth, I had a lot of problems. My breasts ran out of milk because I had no food.

JACK HEWSON: Further down the room there are other children who have developed hydrocephalus, swelling of the brain with cerebrospinal fluid, a condition that can be caused by malnutrition in pregnant mothers. If nothing is done, Tigray could fall into famine. But the use of what is called the F-word is sensitive for both the government and aid agencies. The memory of 1984 haunts Ethiopia, when images of the devastating famine shocked the world. Forty years later, mortality rates and the number of people suffering from severe acute malnutrition now do not meet the UN's technical definition of famine. But Reda Getachew, interim Tigrayan president, is not interested in semantics.

GETACHEW REDA, Acting President, Tigray Region: I see people dying because there is no food on their plate. No technical confusion can convince me that this is not hunger. As far as I'm concerned, whether the F-word should be avoided at this point is too academic. JACK HEWSON: Hunger in Tigray was exacerbated by the World Food Program and USAID's suspension of food deliveries last March. Grain was being systematically stolen and sold on the black market, reportedly by both the federal army and the Tigray army. After changes to prevent theft, WFP resumed shipments in August and USAID in December, but Getachew said it's not enough.

GETACHEW REDA: The answer is not adequate at all. The resumption of food aid only covers 20 percent of what used to be the humanitarian need in Tigray. I know that the federal government has been dragging its feet for quite some time in coming to terms with the reality on the ground. JACK HEWSON: And the reality remains bleak. Responding to "PBS NewsHour" in a written statement, the Ethiopian government said it was distributing $250 million in food aid and claimed that national wheat yields had increased dramatically since 2021. But there is little sign of this supposedly bumper crop in rural Tigray.

For millions of people facing acute hunger, the words will ring hollow. For "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jack Hewson in northern Ethiopia. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Nearly a third of large American companies are exploring new work schedules for their employees. Economics correspondent Paul Solman takes a look at some companies that are testing a four-day, 32-hour week with the same pay. PAUL SOLMAN: At Metro Caring in Denver, the food pantry is very busy. Last year there were 45,000 visits, not far from the 47,000 at the beginning of the pandemic. TEVA SIENICKI, Metro Caring Chief Visionary Officer: Frankly, I came out of the pandemic exhausted.

PAUL SOLMAN: CEO Teva Sienicki felt overworked and overwhelmed. TEVA SIENICKI: I worked too many hours. Hunger has been growing constantly. I was feeling really discouraged. I just don't see us moving forward. And that affected me a lot. PAUL SOLMAN: And about many of her co-workers. TEVA SIENICKI: We were experiencing a lot of staff burnout and felt like we were treading water around our mission. PAUL SOLMAN: Cory Scrivner oversees food procurement and distribution. CORY SCRIVNER, Food Access Manager, Metro Caring: We have had four different food access managers in the last four years. He's been 1,000 percent a burnout factor in each of the past three.

PAUL SOLMAN: In fact, Sienicki almost quit. TEVA SIENICKI: Burnout among nonprofit CEOs and employees was higher than in any other industry. Probably four out of 10 left the field. He was almost there. PAUL SOLMAN: However, he took a year off and came back with a proposal: a four-day work week. TEVA SIENICKI: If you can have a more balanced life and work fewer hours, you actually bring more creativity to your work and you bring more efficiency. And those hours you work mean more. PAUL SOLMAN: Alex Pang has written about working less and leads research and innovation at a four-day-a-week nonprofit around the world.

ALEX SOOJUNG-KIM PANG, 4 Day Week Global:  If you are in an industry where there are serious challenges with recruitment and retention, with work-life balance, or if you are concerned about the sustainability of your organization, A four-day a week is a great way to tackle all of those challenges simultaneously. PAUL SOLMAN: Hey, Bernie Sanders thinks so. He recently introduced a bill in the Senate to reduce the standard work week to 32 hours. SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): The sad reality is that Americans now work longer hours than people in any other wealthy nation. PAUL SOLMAN: Look, a shorter work week is not a new idea.

In 1930, given ever-increasing output per person, i.e. rising productivity, economist John Maynard Keynes foresaw a 15-hour work week within 100 years. In 1956, Vice President Richard Nixon predicted a four-day work week in the - quote - "not-too-distant future." That future is yet to come, but perhaps thanks to COVID, businesses have begun to change. ALEX SOOJUNG-KIM PANG: The pandemic had forced many companies to change the way they work, so they were more open to the idea of ​​playing with work time. PAUL SOLMAN: Just like the workers. NICHOLAS BLOOM, Stanford University: We are all aware of our own mortality. PAUL SOLMAN: Nicholas Bloom of Stanford.

NICHOLAS BLOOM: More than a million Americans have died. You should enjoy life while you're here. Working from home has been a great blessing. I have taught hundreds, thousands of managers and employees. And they wonder: why didn't we do this before? And as soon as you start thinking like that, you think, well, what else is there? And other things, like the four-day week, a whole host of changes come into play. PAUL SOLMAN: The Metro Caring pilot began in late summer. The staff worked from Monday to Thursday, took Fridays off, 32 hours of work, same salary. TEVA SIENICKI: There's definitely a learning curve, right?

It's not something that just happens, but you say, oh, I'm going to be efficient. PAUL SOLMAN: To get their work done in eight hours less, employees turned off computer alerts and reorganized their time. TEVA SIENICKI: Many of them have been in meetings and emails, they didn't respond immediately, but they like to book concentrated blocks and how to organize meetings that normally last an hour in 15 minutes. PAUL SOLMAN: A shorter week increases concentration, says Graye Miller. GRAYE MILLER (Food Access Assistant, Metro Caring): If I have to be here Monday through Friday, I'm much more likely to take that half hour sitting and drinking coffee or that 15 minutes going out for a cigarette.

PAUL SOLMAN: Integrity Pro Roofing also tried a four-day week. RAE BOYCE, CEO of Integrity Pro Roofing: There are many tangible and tactical ways to give your team back that extra eight hours of time. PAUL SOLMAN: CEO Rae Boyce says her staff focused on tasks and projects in the morning, when they had the most energy, and postponed meetings until the afternoon. ALEX SOOJUNG-KIM PANG: The average knowledge worker loses about two hours of productive time per day due to long meetings, misused technology or outdated processes. So in a sense, for many of us, the four-day week is already here.

We just spend a whole day at the office sitting in meetings wondering who is going to change the toner cartridge or talking about any football game. PAUL SOLMAN: In surveys completed in February at the end of the Metro Caring trial, employees reported that well-being had improved. Before the trial, only 8 percent were very or very satisfied with their work-life balance. Ultimately, that figure rose to 46 percent. At the beginning of the pilot, 50 percent felt exhausted; in the end, half that number. GRAYE MILLER: Have four days and then a three-day weekend, oh, my lord. It is rejuvenating on all levels.

The results did not surprise Pang. His company helped conduct a trial in 2022 in 61 British companies that showed benefits to workers' health and productivity when their hours were reduced. ALEX SOOJUNG-KIM PANG: Managers and companies also reported that people collaborated better and were happier in the office. All important metrics trended positively. PAUL SOLMAN: Bloom has doubts about him, though. NICHOLAS BLOOM: Very productive, well-managed American companies that are already pretty excellent in terms of how well-managed they are, these places are very efficient. It's not so easy to take a day and produce the same amount. PAUL SOLMAN: At Integrity Pro Roofing, a strictly four-day work week didn't work year-round.

RAE BOYCE: Roofing and construction tends to be very seasonal. PAUL SOLMAN: So employees now work fewer hours in the off-season, but: RAE BOYCE: Summer and fall are our busiest seasons. So we've found that there are times when we need to ask our team to be flexible and go back to a five-day work week when we experience that kind of high volume. PAUL SOLMAN: Still, Boyce remains committed to a shorter week for its employees the rest of the year. RAE BOYCE: Time is our most precious resource. We have a really short life. So if there's any way to give them some extra time, that's really what we wanted to focus on.

PAUL SOLMAN: At Metro Caring, the four-day work week created some problems of its own. CORY SCRIVNER: We depend on donations, foundations and grants to be able to exist the way we do. And they don't have a four-day work week. They don't have a three-day weekend. There are deadlines that expire on Friday. I often miss important emails that arrive on Fridays. We really need to be available for some of these larger deadlines. PAUL SOLMAN: As a result, CEO Sienicki still has to work on Fridays. TEVA SIENICKI: I don't know if we all have two 32 hours yet. I think some of us, at least some weeks, are at 35 hours.

But frankly, 35 hours is much better than the 50 hours I was working before this test. PAUL SOLMAN: Metro Caring plans to make the shorter work week permanent, even as they work out the details. TEVA SIENICKI: It may not be exactly how we tested, right? Maybe we'll move to a 35-hour work week, or maybe we'll look for a little more flexibility. PAUL SOLMAN: Different times, maybe. CORY SCRIVNER: It may seem like one team works different days than another team. PAUL SOLMAN: And that flexibility can help with retention. Cory Scrivner believes he will last longer than his three predecessors.

CORY SCRIVNER: I feel great. I'm not leaving. (LAUGHTER) CORY SCRIVNER: I broke the curse. PAUL SOLMAN: Scrivner bucked the burnout trend, he says, thanks in part to the four-day work week. For "PBS NewsHour," Paul Solman. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And that's tonight's "NewsHour." I'm William Branham. On behalf of the entire "NewsHour" team, thank you very much for joining us.