British TV producer and entrepreneur Simon Cowell believes that no one should work more than 4 days a week, saying that working on Fridays is “simply ridiculous”, according to Business Insider.

Cowell, creator of hugely successful global talent shows such as The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, which later became international franchises, told The Sun how he manages to maintain a work-life balance.

Now 64, he admitted he was a “workaholic” in the past, working up to 20 hours a day on many aspects of his shows.

But now he seems to have changed his mind.

“I don’t think anyone should work 5 days a week. It just doesn’t make sense,” he told The Sun.

“You don’t work on Friday because you don’t need to. Have dinner at 5:00 p.m. Do not answer the phone after 5:30. Don’t read emails after 5:30. Watch a funny movie,” he continued with the advice.

Should the work week be shortened with Friday or Monday off?

Fortune magazine notes that while Cowell didn’t go into detail about why working on Fridays “doesn’t make sense” as opposed to, say, Mondays, studies show that since the COVID-19 pandemic, most workers who leave this option themselves choose working from home or avoiding work altogether on the last day of the traditional work week.

In the United States, for example, including companies that ordered their employees to return to the office after the pandemic, although they were wary of doing so, they reserve Friday for “remote” work.

Although several countries around the world, including Iceland, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, have experimented with the 4-day work week, no major world economy has yet adopted it. But in Iceland, the shortened working week is gaining popularity, including among employers.

But Germany’s finance minister appeared rather bewildered by the prospect of a shorter working week when asked about the subject earlier this month, noting that “hard work” remains “the key to prosperity”.

As for Cowell, his comments should probably also be viewed in light of the fact that he can now afford to work as much as he wants, with various sources estimating his personal wealth at around $600 million.