• Economic concerns could lead to layoffs and reduced remote work opportunities in the US.
• A weaker-than-expected jobs report could give cover to CEOs who want to reconsider work policies.
• But reverting to traditional work models could harm productivity and employee morale.

What if Saturday was the new Friday?

It's a troubling thought, to be sure, but a longer workweek is already a reality for some workers. Greece has allowed some industries to move to a 48-hour workweek to bump productivity. And South Korean companies, such as Samsung, are telling some execs to also show up on Saturday or Sunday to help boost the company's business.

Now, with economic alarm bells going off in the US, some workers pining for less time on the job may have to keep dreaming.

And that may not be the worst of it: Employees who'd hoped to stay in or land remote roles may find that harder to pull off. But perhaps the biggest threat to the rank and file is layoffs. Jittery CEOs eager to please Wall Street — and their boards — could decide to make the kind of sweeping cuts that Intel recently announced.

The weaker-than-expected July jobs report, which is spooking investors, could give some employers cover to step back from a shorter week, remote work, and other measures aimed at improving employee well-being, labor-market experts told Business Insider.

Peter Cappelli, a professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, said there was a perception that some employers had used layoffs as a cudgel to pull workers back into the office. And he said bosses could use the latest headlines about the economy as a fresh reason to get tough with workers — even if business is still doing OK.

"It's not about the reality as much as the perception," Cappelli told BI.

He said that while many workers in recent years gained some leverage, employers had still held most of the power outside a few exceptions, such as retail workers toward the end of pandemic lockdowns.

"Employees never really had much of an upper hand in the job market," Cappelli said.

Workers could feel as if they have even less power if bosses' worries about the economy make them less charitable toward their employees.

Some big-name businesses report that inflation is pinching consumers to the point that some are cutting back on their lattes and booze.

Starbucks said last week that traffic to its shops had slumped — especially among customers who weren't regulars — and CEO Laxman Narasimhan pointed to "a challenging consumer environment." The liquor giant Diageo posted its first slide in annual sales since 2020.

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