How fuel crisis could bring about next workplace revolution

Governments across Asia are racing to contain a worsening fuel shortage triggered by soaring oil prices and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The region is heavily reliant on Middle Eastern oil, with countries such as Japan and South Korea sourcing roughly 90% and 70% of their supply from there. As the energy crunch deepens, governments on the continent are turning to increasingly drastic measures to conserve fuel—many of which are reshaping everyday work routines.

In Thailand, civil servants have been instructed to take the stairs instead of elevators and shift to remote work for the duration of the crisis. Authorities have also raised air-conditioning temperatures to 27°C to reduce energy consumption.

Vietnam has urged businesses to adopt remote work policies to “reduce the need for travel and transportation.” Meanwhile, the Philippines is advocating for a four-day workweek and has directed officials to limit travel “to essential functions only.”

Pakistan has implemented similar steps, closing schools and introducing a three-day weekend for government offices. These policies are designed not only to cut building-related costs but also to reduce fuel consumption from daily commuting to and from work.

What began as an emergency response in developing economies is now spreading beyond the region, with some employers in Australia and the UK having also started encouraging staff to work from home.

The situation echoes the global shift during the COVID-19 pandemic, when temporary workplace changes became long-term norms. Hybrid work persisted even after offices reopened, as highlighted in a Fortune article, fundamentally reshaping how people work. Experts told the outlet whether the current crisis could drive a similar transformation once again.

Professor Roberta Aguzzoli of Durham University Business School suggests that while shorter workweeks could emerge in the West, stronger infrastructure may reduce the urgency.

“Public transport systems in large European cities are generally more developed and less reliant on individual transport use than those in certain emerging economies,” she explains, noting that weaker infrastructure and greater exposure to fuel price volatility make rapid policy shifts more necessary elsewhere.

As a result, she believes developing countries are more likely to adopt a permanent four-day workweek in the near future. However, there is an important caveat: if workers can demonstrate sustained productivity within four days, the shift could gain traction globally.

No turning back

Whether Asia’s emergency four-day workweek will have the same lasting impact as pandemic-era remote work—or spread to Europe and the United States—remains uncertain. But once workers experience a shorter schedule, even temporarily, reverting to longer weeks may prove difficult.

“Remote work didn’t spread because companies planned it,” says William Self, chief workforce strategist at Mercer. “It spread because the pandemic crisis forced the experiment, the experiment worked, and workers weren’t willing to give back what they’d gained. The same logic applies here.”

Self argues that such trials fundamentally shift expectations. “If employers experiment with a four-day workweek and employees show they can deliver in four days what they previously delivered in five, management has to justify the fifth day rather than the other way around.”

He adds that this moment is unique because multiple forces are converging at once. “Previously, a four-day workweek was mostly theoretical or confined to a handful of pilot programmes. Now you have some governments weighing in as a matter of public policy and major employers adopting it, and they’re doing so in the same news cycle. That’s a different situation than we’ve been in before.” Combined with AI-driven changes to productivity, a cost-of-living crisis, stagnant wages, and growing demand for flexibility, pressure for new work models is intensifying from all sides.

Aguzzoli notes that, crisis or not, existing research already points in this direction.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the four-day workweek could become a global norm, with organisations increasingly testing its viability across different countries.

Still, the transition is unlikely to happen as rapidly as the shift to remote work during the pandemic. “The discussion around the four-day workweek is still at an early stage, with companies and researchers continuing to assess its long-term impact on performance,” Aguzzoli added.

Yet one of the most difficult questions remains: who truly benefits from such changes?

For office workers, the transition is relatively smooth and often welcomed. But for those in lower-paid, customer-facing, or physically demanding roles—such as delivery drivers, construction workers, care workers, and retail staff—the reality is far more complex. Compressing the same workload into fewer days can lead to increased strain, fatigue, and higher risks of workplace accidents. For workers with limited bargaining power, fewer hours could also mean reduced income.

In the end, Aguzzoli suggests that while a four-day workweek could help narrow the gender gap, it may also “widen disparities between skilled and low-skilled workers.“

By Nazrin Sadigova