ELC590

SAMPLE PREPARATION
OUTLINE PERSUASIVE SPEECH

Speech Title: Malaysian government should implement a four-day work week

General Purpose: To persuade
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that a 4-day work week is more efficient
than a 5- day work week
Central Idea: : Today, I’m going to tell you of the advantages of a 4-day work week rather
than 5-days and how it helps benefit us

Introduction

Attention getter> Imagine having a

Monday off every week. Having to
work five days a week has proven to
be inefficient of the average
Malaysian worker’s time, and must
of us could use an extra day of
break

i. Remember the satisfying feeling of having random holiday on Monday? You’d have Saturday,
Sunday, and Monday off, and every Malaysian was happy.
ii. I decided to attempt to persuade everyone to switch to a 4-day work schedule because I found
reports of enormous benefits – economically and environmentally, which are huge priorities in
today’s world. I’ve also tried working a 4- day work week.

Transition: Now, I’m going to provide some context and history of the current 5-day work week
schedule, and why it doesn’t work anymore.

Body

(Monroe’s Motivated Sequence → Need)

1. Today, I’m going to tell you of the advantages of a 4-day work week rather than 5-days and
how it helps benefit us.

A. Main point: The 5-day work week is inefficient and no longer accommodates to Malaysian
needs and need to implement four day work week.

- Jobs in Malaysian should no longer follow the strict “8 hour of work a day”
-working a shorter week give employee the ability to:
A) finish task on time, having ample time rest, recharge and prepare for next week and experience
less stress and take a sick leave.
- It has simply been a tradition. Eight hours of work a day was just a phrase coined way back in
1817 by a labor rights activist in the Industrial Revolution. Factories had to be run for hours on
end, so that made sense.
1 Adapted from Lucas, S. (2012). The Art of Public Speaking. (12th ed.). NY: McGraw-Hill
Transition: As you can see, 5-day work weeks are outdated in Malaysia that why Malaysian need
to implement four day work a week.
(Monroe’s Motivated Sequence → Satisfaction)

- Main Point 2: What exactly is the 4-day work week o Instead of the current system, we should
use a work schedule that revolves around

- maximizing our work and important, practical matters in 4 days.

* Most companies will run trials of a 4-day work week. Most of them are firms and business-
related companies.

* The U.S., New Zealand. And U.K. are starting to switch to 4-day weeks, financial and wellbeing
issue that why Malaysian should follow other country that having high income in worldwide.

* The 4-day work week designed to be a solution to work-life balance problems.

* Lots of companies can utilize it is a productivity policy. As long as employees can meet their
productivity goals (should be an increase), they are rewarded an extra day off the week.
* Lots of companies cut hours accordingly, offering a 32-hour work week as opposed to 40 hours.
* Companies with 4-day work weeks usually picked two days off: Wednesday and Friday
* Wednesday-off participants found the break between 4 days of working helps reset their mind
and provide a boost for the next 2 days.
* Friday-off participants usually picked this option for the longer, consecutive weekend.
* With a 4-day work week came with a 3-day weekend.

(Monroe’s Motivated Sequence → Visualization)

: 4-day work weeks should be encouraged in jobs that can allow it.
People who work 4-day work weeks have been found to been happier.
The extra day of free time opens a lot of different opportunities for different people.
3-day weekends can encourage people to explore new ideas in their life
- Stress levels decrease, and sense of empowerment increases. There have also been increases in
overall life satisfaction from one extra day off. o Productivity can grow substantially. With an
extra day off, workers are incentivized to work harder.
-After the worker’s days off, reports have found them to be more energetic when they came back
to work.
-Employees have also been found to be more creative, better-behaved, and came to work on time
consistently.
- With more work being compressed, retention rates increased thanks to newfound passion or
meaning in their jobs.

-The environment is also positively affected in a 4-day work week.

- With less days of work comes less road use. 20% road use can lead to enormous energy and
congestion savings.
- Businesses don’t need to leave their lights as long. 4-day work weeks came with cheaper utility
bills.
-Less pollution saves the world. CO2 emissions can be cut significantly with less greenhouse
gasses being emitted, according to Scientific American Journal.

2 Adapted from Lucas, S. (2012). The Art of Public Speaking. (12th ed.). NY: McGraw-Hill
 Conclusion

(Monroe’s Motivated Sequence  Action)

I. - Encouraging and using a 4-day work week will help boast many wellbeing’s.
II. -less stress and good worker will be born in Malaysia
III. -

Adapted from Lucas, S. (2012). The Art of Public Speaking. (12th ed.). NY: McGraw-Hill

3 Adapted from Lucas, S. (2012). The Art of Public Speaking. (12th ed.). NY: McGraw-Hill