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A new study of employees who tested out a four-day work week for six months found that it improved both their health as well as their performance at work. The workers, spread out over more than 140 companies, stated that the four-day work week led to greater job satisfaction, improved productivity, and better sleep.
The pilot program was implemented by 4 Day Week Global — a non-profit established to provide a platform for supporters of the four-day work week. It covered employees in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Ireland.
The study, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, covered nearly 3,000 employees. The workers switched to a four-day work week (32 instead of 40 hours) with no adjustments in pay or benefits. They were then compared to workers at similar jobs who worked a standard 40-hour, five-day work week.
What they found wasn’t surprising
“Perhaps the most surprising finding so far is that there is no surprise, which is not typically the case in academic research,” Wen Fan, a sociologist at Boston College and study co-author, said in a statement. “Usually, we would get some hypotheses supported while others refuted, but for this project, basically everything we expect to move moves, and in the anticipated direction.
“Hours reduced, well-being improved, and key organizational bottom-lines sustained — all of these happened without the need for workers to intensify their work demands. I think this is an ideal example demonstrating how powerful well-conceived work redesign efforts can make an impactful difference in the real world.”
Less work, more productivity?
When the program was completed, “none of the companies answered ‘no’ or ‘likely no,’” said Boston College Professor of Sociology and member of the 4DWG academic board, Juliet Schor. Companies cited their reasons for that being “an improvement in productivity and growth in revenue; workers [reporting] less stress and burnout, and an overall positive effect on mental and physical health.”
The researchers explained that the companies were able to maintain or increase productivity, despite workers working one day a week less, by decreasing or cutting activities with questionable value in their weekly operations. Companies specifically cited a reduction in meetings, replacing them with phone calls, messaging apps, or other means of communication, as a significant positive factor.
The other key to increased productivity, they noted, is that four-day week employees tend to use their third day off for doctor’s appointments or other personal errands that they would otherwise try to cram into a workday. Employees also reported devoting the extra day off to hobbies and leisure activities, household work, and personal grooming, all of which often contribute to good mental health and general life satisfaction.
“What companies need to understand is, you don’t focus on individual productivity, but rather the overall organization,” said Schor. “Employers who went to remote work during COVID recognized that they could trust their people to do the work, and that’s what we’re saying here, too.”