The Latest on the 4 Day Work Week
Strong Opinions, Weekly Held
In 1928, economist John Maynard Keynes predicted humans would work less than 15 hours per week by 2028 thanks to technological improvement. In 1965, a US Senate Subcommittee predicted a standard 14-hour work week by the year 2000. A 2010 study from the New Economics Foundation argued the optimal work week was 21 hours.
Americans love our long, arduous work weeks. But to what effect? An article from CNN Business put it bluntly as far back as 2013: "The average German worker puts in 394 hours less than an American each year—the equivalent of nearly ten fewer weeks. The country is far smaller than the United States in area, population and resources, yet still manages to compete as the fourth largest economy and third largest exporter in the world."
Last week’s monthly content roundup included an article about a company going beyond just a standard 4 day schedule and moving to fully flexible 32 hours. Anecdotes are great, but the four-day movement now boasts big-sample evidence. 4 Day Week Global has stitched together the largest real-world pilots to date—including the U.K.’s 61-company, 2,900-employee experiment and a follow-up 41-firm run across the U.S. and Canada—each finding productivity holding steady (or ticking up) while enthusiasm goes through the roof.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Microsoft Japan’s famed 40% productivity boost and Iceland’s public-sector overhaul, these trials give us the first truly global, hard-numbers look at what happens when Friday becomes part of the weekend.
Spoiler: I’m convinced a reduced workweek is (still) the wave of the future.
Here’s why:
Employee Satisfaction & Well-Being
During the U.K.’s six-month, 61-company pilot, 39 % of employees reported lower stress and 71 % felt less burned-out after moving to a four-day schedule.
Across the same trial, sick-day absences fell 65 %, and 40 % of workers reported improved sleep quality.
In the U.S./Canada pilot (41 firms), life-satisfaction scores climbed 16 % while employee-reported burnout dropped 69 %.
Fifteen percent of U.K. participants declared that no amount of money could tempt them to return to a five-day week.
Retention & Recruitment
Voluntary-quit risk fell 57 % during the U.K. pilot; several firms said turnover “practically disappeared.”
U.S./Canadian companies saw attrition decline 32 %.
When Atom Bank shifted to a 34-hour week, job applications spiked 500% and internal attrition dropped.
A 2023 Bankrate poll found 81 % of U.S. full-time workers favor a four-day week, and more than half would switch jobs to get one; one in five would even take a pay cut.
Productivity & Revenue Gains
U.K. pilot firms posted a 1.4 % revenue increase during the six-month trial and a 35 % year-over-year gain.
U.S./Canada participants logged a 15 % revenue rise while cutting average weekly hours.
Across all 4 Day Week Global pilots to date, no company has reported a lasting productivity decline, and 95 % of employees want the schedule to stay.
Of the 41 firms in the US/Canada pilot, every single one of them intended to keep the 4 day work week schedule going forward.
The results here are nothing short of astounding and echo what many smaller case studies have found. Organizations try the 4 day approach and see immediate and lasting improvement.
That’s why I’m convinced the 4 day work week approach will eventually take flight—there is just too much money to be made.
That's it for this edition — please reach out if I can be at all helpful.
Be compassionate and intentional.
References:
Autonomy, University of Cambridge & 4 Day Week Global. The U.K. Four-Day Week Pilot Results (2023).
4 Day Week Global. Long-Term Pilot Report – U.S. & Canada (2023).
Abend, L. (2023, Jan 19). “Why 2023 Could Finally Be the Year of the 4-Day Workweek.” TIME.
Timsit, A. (2023, Feb 21). “A Four-Day Workweek Pilot Was So Successful Most Firms Say They Won’t Go Back.” The Washington Post.
Laker, B., & Ogbonnaya, C. (2022, May 16). “What Does the Four-Day Workweek Mean for the Future of Work?” MIT Sloan Management Review.
Bankrate. (2023, July 25). “Hybrid, Remote and 4-Day Workweek Survey.”
Paul, K. (2019, Nov 4). “Microsoft Japan Tested a Four-Day Work Week and Productivity Jumped by 40 %.” The Guardian.