Four-day work weeks: who wins, employees or their bosses?

The British experiment saw more than 3,000 workers at 70 companies work four-day weeks without any loss in pay. Crucially, they were not required to work longer hours on those four days, either. So what happened to their wellbeing, and their productivity? Here’s the headline statistics. At the end of the study, the workers were:

• 71% less burned out
• 39% less stressed
• 48% more satisfied with their job

And 60% said they found it easier to balance their responsibilities at home, too. It’s an undeniably strong performance. And while some of those statistics need to be explored further – for example, are 61% more stressed, or equally as stressed? – these stats bode well for the experiment.

And as for the employers? A majority are keeping the four-day work week, permanently. They reported that revenue remained stable or even grew. In fact, 24 of the companies experienced an average of 34% increase in revenue compared with the previous six months. Beyond revenue, employers also saw the following changes. Employees were:

• 57% less likely to quit
• 65% less likely to take the day off sick

These two things have a big impact on morale as well as on recruitment costs and business continuity, so that’s a big plus for employers. It’s a win-win situation.

Happy workers, happy boss; who else benefits?

There is another winner in this story. Four-day work weeks also create a more optimistic future for our planet, too. There are numerous ways that this effect might be enacted, especially if the four-day work week becomes more widespread:

• Fewer cars on the road, fewer buses and trains required
• Less energy consumption by offices as they have fewer people in them
• Less generation of single-use plastic waste through fast food and other consumables used when away from the home

To paraphrase a famous astronaut, this is one small experiment into the future of work. But it could, eventually, be a giant leap for humankind.

What's next?

The world of work has had a lot of negative press recently: quiet quitting, quiet firing and people moonlighting at two or more full-time remote jobs. But with the rising cost of living in many countries as well as the uncertainty brought about by the pandemic, people staying in jobs that make them unhappy is all too common. And not surprisingly, that’s bad for productivity. So any experiment that yields results like these is a huge plus for employees. But it’s also beneficial for employers who know the true cost of high turnover and recruitment, and are facing their own economic struggles.

Spain and Scotland are now planning similar trials, and companies around the world aren’t waiting for national experiments to dive in and send their employees home one day a week. Some more tentative employers are starting with a nine-day fortnight, giving employees every other Friday off to ease themselves into this new way of working (and living). But there is increasing acceptance of the four-day work week as a viable alternative to the 9-5, Monday-Friday schedule that has been the norm.

“We feel really encouraged by the results, which showed the many ways companies were turning the four-day week from a dream into a realistic policy, with multiple benefits” said David Frayne, a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge. And it’s not a big dream; many companies already took part in a 100% remote-work experiment when the pandemic first struck. It’s great to see something positive has come from that dark period of time.