Globally, the 4-day workweek is increasingly explored through government and private sector pilots in countries such as the UK, Iceland, the UAE, Japan, the U.S., and others.

Large-scale trials, notably in the UK and Iceland, have generated positive outcomes: a majority of participating organizations reported sustained or increased productivity, significant revenue growth, reductions in absenteeism and staff turnover, and marked improvements in employee wellbeing, including lower stress and reduced burnout.

Employee job satisfaction and work-life balance consistently rise, as do measures of teamwork, loyalty, and family time.

Surveys from diverse contexts such as India, Saudi Arabia, and Europe similarly show strong employee preference for the model and expectations of enhanced morale, creativity, and productivity.

The primary barriers are sector-specific and operational.

Industries requiring continuous service or face-to-face teamwork—such as healthcare, retail, or manufacturing—often experience challenges scheduling coverage and maintaining service continuity.

Some employees find it difficult to complete workloads in reduced hours, though many firms mitigate this by cutting unnecessary meetings and increasing autonomy.

Equity is a concern: higher-paid or office-based workers may benefit disproportionately, leaving lower-wage or shift-based roles with fewer gains.

Productivity uplift is not universal, and uncertainty remains for some employers regarding long-term effects on output and customer service.

Implementation demands substantial reorganization, especially for large or operationally complex employers.

Overall, international evidence confirms strong potential for improved well-being and retention, though adoption strategies require industry-specific adaptation and careful attention to equity and business continuity.

No country has yet adopted the model fully nationwide; continued pilots and research are informing further policy decisions.

Globally, the 4-day workweek is increasingly explored through government and private sector pilots in countries such as the UK, Iceland, the UAE, Japan, the U.S., and others.

Title:

Content: news

Portugal Just Launched a ‘Government-Funded' 4-Day Workweek Trial

Portugal is the latest country to experiment with a four-day workweek, and businesses are getting an assist from the government.

For the next six months, 39 private-sector businesses in the country will participate in a "government-funded" pilot program in partnership with 4 Day Week Global, the nonprofit behind several prominent four-day workweek experiments around the world, according to a release from the group.

Employers have agreed to reduce the number of hours employees work every week from without cutting their pay through the 100-80-100 model: Workers get 100% of the pay for working 80% of the time in exchange for delivering 100% of their usual output.

Some 72% of the Portuguese labor force works more than 40 hours per week, making it the OECD country with the third-longest average workweek after the United Kingdom and Ireland, according to a report from University of London and University of Reading researchers overseeing the program.

Most of the businesses in the experiment are in the professional, scientific and technical fields, but the program's cohort also includes a nursery, care home, stem cells bank, research and development center, and firms from manufacturing, retail and nonprofit sectors.

Businesses say they want to see if a shortened workweek will help reduce employee stress and burnout, and in turn improve worker retention. Researchers also hope to track the economic, social and environmental implications of a four-day business week in Portugal.

4 Day Week Global has led several high-profile experiments around the world, which have gained momentum throughout the pandemic as businesses and employees began to re-think the modern work experience.

A trial in the U.S. last year proved to be wildly popular, with workers reporting they performed better and were less burned out. Many said they could never return to a traditional five-day week, or at least not without a significant pay bump. Employers benefited, too: Businesses reported an 8% increase in revenue throughout the trial period, and a 38% increase from the same time period a year prior.

4 Day Week Global's largest experiment to date included nearly 3,000 workers throughout the U.K. last year, with participants reporting better health, finances and relationships.

Although no country has fully adopted a four-day workweek, trials have run in South Africa, Belgium, Iceland, Japan and elsewhere.

Portugal has become a popular destination for American millennials looking to relocate internationally thanks to its affordable living and good weather. The number of Americans residing in Portugal is at its highest level in more than a decade, according to the Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service. There were about 7,000 Americans living in the country at the end of 2021, more than double three years earlier.

And the country launched its own digital nomad visa last year, making it even easier for workers from any countries that aren't part of the European Union or European Economic Area to start a new life abroad.

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Large-scale trials, notably in the UK and Iceland, have generated positive outcomes: a majority of participating organizations reported sustained or increased productivity, significant revenue growth, reductions in absenteeism and staff turnover, and marked improvements in employee wellbeing, including lower stress and reduced burnout.

Title:

Content: [Retain talent] Enterprise test 4 days a week production efficiency improvement of employees: work pressure reduction and health improvement
Stock Market 07: 41 2023 / 02 / 22
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[Retain talent] Enterprise test 4 days a week production efficiency improvement
Do you want to work four days a week?
According to the Wall Street Journal, most of the British companies participating in the four-day work week test said that after six months of testing, the staff turnover rate and absenteeism rate fell sharply, which is the largest four-day work week test to date. 61 companies, including banks, fast food restaurants, marketing consultants, etc., involved 2900 employees. Eighteen companies said they would permanently implement the four-day workweek.
For decades, the market has been exploring the idea of working less than five days a week, or 40 hours a week, which has become a new opportunity under the pandemic, as home-based and mixed-work arrangements have become more widely accepted, and employers have also taken the opportunity to explore whether shortening work hours can improve employee happiness and loyalty.
Working days have become a retention and recruitment issue
Juliet Schor, an economist and sociologist at Boston College, said that it was initially due to the mental fatigue of wage earners during the epidemic, but it has now become a retention and recruitment problem.
Her team has helped conduct research around the world on a four-day workweek, including researchers from the UK think tank Autonomy and the University of Cambridge.
The research is being conducted around the world. Small tests in the United States and Canada are being led by research institutes in the United Kingdom, and similar tests are being conducted in Australia and Brazil. Unilever, an internationally renowned consumer goods company, is also participating in the tests.
Testing in Iceland, involving more than 2,500 employees in various industries, researchers found that most employees maintained or increased productivity, as well as reduced work stress.
Most companies that try 4-day work are small employers
Since most of the companies experimenting with four-day work are small employers, many large companies have yet to embrace the concept.
In the test, some employees reported that it was difficult to complete all the work during this time.
In a study conducted in the UK from June to November, most employees did not increase their work intensity, but bosses held fewer meetings to give employees more time to get their work done.
Finally, employers rated employee productivity and performance on an average of 7.5 on a scale from 0 (very negative) to 10 (very positive), and at half of the test, 46% of companies said their business productivity remained unchanged, while 34% reported a slight improvement and 15% reported a significant improvement.
20% of your time is wasted on unnecessary meetings
On the other hand, 39% of employees reported less stress at work, but half of employees reported no change in their index.
Nearly half of employees reported improved mental health and 37% reported improved physical health.
Claire Daniels, CEO of Trio Media, a digital marketing company with 13 employees in the UK, said she took part in the trial to see if she could improve productivity.
Before the test began, she analyzed with employees that 20% of their time was wasted on unnecessary meetings, business trips, and other inefficiencies.
"Very soon, we will know that we do not have to do any extra work in these four days," she said.
The productivity of the 4-day work was flat or slightly improved from the same period last year
Daniels pointed out that she would have employees work from Monday to Thursday, and Tuesday to Friday, and have employees take extra places to follow up on their colleagues ’ work during the holidays.
No longer do marathon daily team meetings with employees, in longer meetings involving customers and multiple presentations, employees will only attend part of the meeting based on necessity and then leave.
The hardest part, she says, is for employees to make sure they don ’ t go back to their old work mindset or habits. Overall, productivity was flat or slightly higher compared to the same period last year, with revenue up 47%.
She wants to continue experimenting for another six months before making a permanent change, “but I don ’ t think we ’ re going to go back to the typical five-day week. ”
If the four-day work week can improve production efficiency and the employees are happy, the bosses think that they can give it a try, or they think that the workload of five days can be completed in four days, so that the employees can continue to overcomplete their work on the fifth day.
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What did surveys conducted in London before and after the experiment of 4-day workweek  find?

Employee job satisfaction and work-life balance consistently rise, as do measures of teamwork, loyalty, and family time.

Title:

Content: Scottish public sector workers have started working a four-day week to test whether the practice could be rolled out country-wide.

The Scottish Government confirmed a pilot was underway involving around 140 staff at South of Scotland Enterprise doing a 32-hour week without loss of pay.

Although this represents only three hours less per week, the shift to four day working is seen as key to changing people's work-life balance.

The move follows Humza Yousaf announcing the experiment as part of his Programme for Government last September.

It was confirmed in a written parliamentary answer by economy secretary Neil Gray.

He said: “Work has commenced on the 4 Day Working Week Public Sector Pilot to assess the wellbeing, environmental and productivity benefits a 4 Day Working Week could bring.

“We have appointed [think tank] Autonomy as our expert partner to support the pilot.

“The team involved in this project have previous 4 Day Working Week pilot experience including from the Valencian Government pilot, and the Icelandic public sector pilot.

“The South of Scotland Enterprise 4 Day Working Week pathfinder work is being folded into Autonomy’s methodology, and engagement will continue with other public bodies interested in participating in the 32-hour working week pilot.

“Autonomy will also provide support and evaluate organisations moving to a contractual 35 hour working week.

“This will capture valuable insights from a wider range of public bodies on different shorter work week models and be included in the 4 Day Working Week evaluation report.”

READ MORE: Jason Leitch confirms he wiped pandemic WhatsApp messages

The pilot is expected to run around 12 months to see if it can extended across the Scottish public sector and inspire the private sector to adopt it.

In 2022, a six-month pilot involving 61 companies employing 2,900 people in the UK ended with 56 of the firms reporting they would continue with the system, 18 permanently.

Employees reported feeling less stressed, anxious, fatigued and sleepless afterwards, while company revenues stayed broadly the same or higher.

Almost one in six employees said they would not accept a return to a five-day week.

Green MSP Ross Greer, whose question elicited the information, said normalising a four-day working week with no loss of pay would transform workers’ health and wellbeing.

Mr Greer, whose party has had a four-day week for staff since 2022, said: “The four-day working week has a transformative impact on work-life balance, health and happiness.

“It means people can spend more time with their families, friends and loved ones and it helps employers retain staff and boost productivity.

“We have seen the benefits for ourselves, including better job satisfaction and a reduction in stress. The Scottish Government is rightly leading by example with these pilots.

“They will provide a lot of useful evidence and lessons which will in turn help other sectors and businesses to make the shift.”

READ MORE: Sturgeon blasted Aberdeen FC  Covid statement ‘abomination’

Will Stronge, Director of Research at Autonomy, said: “We're very pleased to be working with the Scottish Government on this historic trial.

“Alongside those who are already underway with the pilot and others who have already expressed interest, we will be looking to sign up a number of public sector organisations as the year progresses.

“A four-day week with no loss of pay has been trialled extensively across the private sector and parts of the public sector to great success: it’s important that we find out if it can also work in public sector organisations in Scotland.”

Joe Ryle, Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, added: “Numerous trials and pilots from across the world have shown that a four-day week with no loss of pay increases productivity and improves work-life balance.

“It is working extremely well for many businesses in the private sector so it's only right and fair to see if those benefits can be applied to the public sector.

“One hundred years ago we moved from a six-day week to a five-day week. It's great to see Scotland now leading the charge towards a four-day week."

What did  the trial of 4-day workwee in New Zealand show?

What did surveys conducted in London before and after the experiment of 4-day workweek  find?

54% of employees had better balance of work and home responsibilities

What has the implementation 4-day wrokweek in Dubai, UAE indicated?

Increase in employee and customer satisfaction.

Surveys from diverse contexts such as India, Saudi Arabia, and Europe similarly show strong employee preference for the model and expectations of enhanced morale, creativity, and productivity.

Title:

Content: Europe

Majority of employers in India favour four day workweek: Report

With quite a few corporations internationally proposing 4-day
workweek for workers, a report has revealed {that a} majority of
employers in India strongly agree that this mannequin will assist in
decreasing stress degree, Trend experiences citing The Tribune.

Over 60 per cent of the employers strongly agree that the brand new
4-day workweek mannequin might be profitable in uplifting the general
morale of the organisation with job satisfaction and work-life
stability, serving to to cut back stress and nervousness ranges, a report by
HR Solutions Genius Consultants mentioned.

However, 27 per cent of the employers who participated within the
survey mentioned they weren’t certain of its implications on
organisations’ productiveness.

The remaining 11 per cent disagreed with the notion, arguing
that the 4-day work mannequin would neither enhance nor yield any
drastic optimistic outcomes, it mentioned.

The report is predicated on a survey performed on-line amongst 1,113
employers and workers between February 1 and March 7 throughout
sectors, together with banking and finance, building and
engineering, schooling, FMCG, hospitality, HR options, IT, ITES
and BPO, logistics, manufacturing, media, oil and fuel.

The survey discovered that 100 per cent workers are in favour of
the 4-day workweek mannequin.

Further, when employers have been requested if they’re keen to work
past 12 hours to compensate for an additional break day, over 56 per
cent agreed immediately, whereas the remaining 44 per cent of the
respondents weren’t satisfied about stretching their standard working
hours.

Similarly, 60 per cent workers within the survey mentioned they’re
keen to work greater than 12 hours in alternate for one more weekly
off.

Over 66 per cent of respondents strongly believed that the 4-day
week module will assist them enhance their productiveness ranges, the
report mentioned.

The survey additionally revealed that for employers, essentially the most most well-liked
third break day is Friday (52 per cent), adopted by Monday (18 per
cent), Wednesday (18 per cent) and Thursday (11 per cent).

“The new 4-day workweek module has been fairly an attention-grabbing
development that has been more and more adopted by fairly a couple of international locations
and organisations from a standalone perspective. People have been
praising the module for serving to workers handle each their
private and work lives higher. Some really feel the 4-day week mannequin has
enabled them to push their boundaries, contribute and carry out
higher,” mentioned R P Yadav, Genius Consultants CMD.

The module has piqued quite a lot of curiosity and has made few
organisations marvel if they need to take into account adopting the identical for
their firm construction, he added.

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What do employers in India think of 4-day workweek?

The primary barriers are sector-specific and operational.

Title:

Content: The four-day work week is welcome, but some challenges remain

This shift has thrown up interesting questions on macro and micro levels that over time will need answering

Beta V.1.0 - Powered by automated translation

The sin of presenteeism is shaping up as a pre-pandemic anachronism, and the principal reason for this is not just remote working but an emerging historic global shift towards a shorter working week.

The global headaches from supply constraints following Covid-19 disruption have overshadowed equally profound changes in the labour market. For some bosses, there is rationing not just of the number of workers but the time they are willing to work. As people reassess their work-life balance, responsible employers and some countries are looking at the advantages of compressed hours on the job.

The UAE is a trailblazer in this regard, with most emirates having formally adopted a 4.5-day working model. Sharjah has gone further by opting for a four-day model. Reporting last week in this newspaper found that its residents said they are healthier and happier, enjoying more weekend flexibility and having more time with their families.

Many forecasts over recent years have been very wide of the mark about the economic trajectory of the big developed economies. The Resolution Foundation, a UK-based think tank that looks at work, points out that in analysing the pandemic, “many feared a house price bust, expected the inflation spike to be small/short-lived, said unemployment/insolvencies for workers/firms respectively would surge and claimed this would be a ‘she-cession’. None happened”.

Technology is the driver of all this, and the trend may over time become irresistible

Analysis of Google searches in the UK from an employment agency recently reported the four-day work week had gained popularity among people on the hunt for their next job opportunity. “Google searches for "4 day week jobs" exploded a spectacular 1,011 per cent in early 2022, when compared to 2021,” according to the firm’s research.

One of Britain’s biggest and best-known corporate brands, the department store M&S, has hired a well-known female executive who is a prominent four-day week champion, Katie Bickerstaffe. She said her role was compatible with shorter hours, even though it is a round-the-clock operation.

“We’re a seven-days-a-week, 24-hour operation and that’s what you do, but I’ve always done that [four days] because it gives me the freedom to spend some downtime with my kids and not feel that I don’t have the opportunity to do that during the week,” she explained.

The news coincided with the announcement that 70 UK companies had voluntarily joined a scheme to alter the working week basis of their business. Signing on to a pledge to pay 100 per cent of wages for 80 per cent of the hours worked means much more than just creating new rotas. It means altering the internal working patterns of the business and finding new ways to accommodate latency in the workforce.

Not everyone is convinced this can deliver a kind of workplace nirvana.

The Centre for Policy Studies carried out some research last year that estimated that a four-day week would have a big cost to the economy if productivity levels remained constant. The annual shortfall to the economy would be £45 billion ($55.42bn). On more generous calculations, if a 6 per cent increase in productivity could be achieved in the first decade of the reform, the loss overall could be pared back to £17bn. The analyst behind the figures believes the evidence for productivity gains from compressing hours and having shorter working weeks is extremely limited.

That is not much of an argument for not experimenting with shorter weeks. Employees already job-share and expect work-from-home arrangements throughout the work force. In office-based roles or project work, the flexibility to complete the workload that comes with the job most obviously lends itself to working with a defined, shorter time frame.

There are hurdles for other jobs. Customer-facing roles or service functions will still need to be provided across a far longer time-frame than four days or 32 hours. Unlike in Sharjah, there is no clear directive in the UK for a common day that extends the weekend. Indeed, many people working four days chose a non-consecutive day, such as Wednesday, for the non-working option.

Without the government plumping for Friday as part of a three-day weekend, it is likely that businesses will experience co-ordination both internally and with clients and supplies if substantial numbers in the workforce are missing in action for part of the working week.

There are also concerns around the equality of the development. Can it be true that more flexibility would allow women, in particular, to better balance childcare obligations and thus erode the disadvantage with men?

And as the work-from-home phenomenon has shown, the higher-paid employees have snapped up the main benefits from structural changes in how people work. There is little to suppose that this trend would not emerge from the four-day week.

Technology is, of course, the driver of all this, and the trend may over time become irresistible.

Certainly, the difficulties of drawing an absolute boundary between the working day and your time revolve around the fact that your email is always in your pocket on the phone. That is double-edged. It would be difficult for employers to play another card: offering people four days’ pay, not the salaried five.

Published: June 13, 2022, 4:00 AM

Industries requiring continuous service or face-to-face teamwork—such as healthcare, retail, or manufacturing—often experience challenges scheduling coverage and maintaining service continuity.

What did Labor economist Jonathan Boys say about 4-day workweek?

Healthcare industry may face more problems.

Some employees find it difficult to complete workloads in reduced hours, though many firms mitigate this by cutting unnecessary meetings and increasing autonomy.

Title:

Content: Since June 1 this year, more than 3,000 employees from more than 60 companies in the United Kingdom have conducted a social experiment with a six-month “four-day work ”.
Since 2018, the non-profit organization of "4 Day Week Global" wants to test whether the public interest of "80% working time - 100% wages - 100% productivity" and "three days off a week, labor and management win" really exists.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak so far in 2020, many enterprises have adopted the method of “working from home, diverting work ”, and in the long process of the epidemic, working from home and working from home has become an emerging work style.
Since the end of the epidemic this year, many countries have returned to their original or new jobs, whether they are blue-collar and white-collar workers who have left or changed jobs.
However, in more than two years, the transformation of various workplaces in the enterprise to survive, and the labor compromise of "unpaid leave + retained work" have made more and more pioneer projects of "four days a week", and the industry category has become more and more diversified, becoming a new opportunity to promote.
Among them, the most representative is Iceland.
According to media reports in the middle of last year: “The three-day weekend experiment in Iceland has been a success, and workers ’ happiness and productivity have improved ”; the reason for this is:“ Employees face less workplace stress, anxiety, depression and exhaustion, and therefore work harder and take fewer sick days; workers feel more leisure time, and therefore are more committed to their work. ”
This conclusion, in addition to the ethical questions of the willingness of enterprises and workers to participate, and whether or not to remain anonymous, also requires the testing of more rigorous research methods, such as the length of the experiment, whether the industry type and size of the experiment is consistent, and the working tolerance of the workers involved in the experiment, are worthy of further investigation.
On the other hand, the three-day experiment, the success stories of Iceland, New Zealand, and British Columbia, Canada, did not clearly describe the type of industry, the development of the industry in each country, and whether the size of the enterprises in the industry varies greatly.
In addition, across all continents of the world, countries have different levels of economic development, industrial structures have their own characteristics, and the government originally conferred statutory labor rights and interests, are also different.
In addition to industries that are not suitable for at-home work, the sense of alienation of human relationships, the synergy of face-to-face communication, and whether innovation requires teamwork have become the focus of discussion.
On the front page of the “Four Days a Week Worldwide ” website, the home page shows where the current pioneer projects are located on every continent around the world. Surprisingly, Central and South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia each launched at least five projects, but in Canada and the United States, there is only one pilot project.
Moreover, the website reveals that “working four days a week makes 78% of employees feel happier and less stressed. ”
It can also be seen that not only developed countries are promoting, in fact, more developing countries are also conducting experiments.
While there is a lack of a more convincing description of the experimental design, it is clear that this is indeed a possible new type of workplace.
Because of this, in addition to the pilot of national enterprises to cooperate with international non-profit organizations, there are also governments taking the lead in responding.
Spain ’ s leftist political party, once launched a “three days off ” policy in 2021, and the Spanish government agreed to test the new work system of“ 32 hours per week (8 hours per day) ” on a limited scale. 200 companies are willing to participate, and 3,000 to 6,000 workers benefit.
The result of such a trial gives more room for imagination to "take three days off every week, and employees will win both."
The social experiment of "80% of working hours - 100% of wages - 100% of productivity" has important policy significance for the harmony of labor relations and the long-term development of the economy.
"High working hours" does not mean "high productivity", which is the general consensus of the current society.
"Shorten working hours, wages unchanged", helps companies retain employees, perhaps without controversy; but whether it can also maintain 100% of the work output is questioned by the business community.
After the epidemic, "three days off a week, labor and management win" is applicable to some specific industry categories, and the nature of the work of individual employees may also be more widely distributed in various industries.
And the flexibility of working hours, the heterogeneity of the workplace, the universalization of work dispatch, and even the high expectations of the young generation for "enterprise decentralization" are all the help of "working four days a week", which may be a major challenge for enterprises in the future.
# Work # Employee # Business # Home # 4 Days

Equity is a concern: higher-paid or office-based workers may benefit disproportionately, leaving lower-wage or shift-based roles with fewer gains.

Productivity uplift is not universal, and uncertainty remains for some employers regarding long-term effects on output and customer service.

Implementation demands substantial reorganization, especially for large or operationally complex employers.

What challenges will the companies with diverse workforce have for implementing 4-day workweek??

Complicated to roll out for large companies

Overall, international evidence confirms strong potential for improved well-being and retention, though adoption strategies require industry-specific adaptation and careful attention to equity and business continuity.

Title:

Content: Ina Opperman
Business Journalist
3 minute read
26 Feb 2023
10:00 am

Largest 4-day week trial results good news for future of work

Ina Opperman

Will a 4-day workweek work? It seems that employees and employers are happy.

The results of the world’s largest 4-day week trial is good news for the future of work, with new research showing that these results are largely in line with existing global evidence, further demonstrating the benefits of reduced-hour, output-focused working.

The pilot programme conducted in the UK by non-profit 4 Day Week Global, the UK’s 4-Day Week Campaign and think tank Autonomy, guided over 60 companies and almost 3 000 workers through a six-month trial of a 4-day week, with no loss of pay for workers.

This brings the global campaign’s total number of completed pilot participants to 91 companies and approximately 3 500 employees. Lead researcher, professor Juliet Schor of Boston College, says overall results show that almost every organisation will stick to a 4-day week after the trial, with 91% definitely continuing or planning to continue and another 4% leaning towards continuing. Only 4% of participants are definitely not continuing.

Participating companies rated their overall experience of the trials at an average of 8.5/10, with business productivity and business performance each scoring 7.5/10. Revenue increased by 35% over the trial periods when compared to similar periods from the previous year, while hiring increased and absenteeism decreased.

ALSO READ: 28 SA companies to implement 4-day work week on 1 March

Improved employee wellbeing and health

During the trial it was also found that the health and wellbeing of employees also improved, with significant increases observed in physical and mental health, time spent exercising and overall life and job satisfaction. Rates of stress, burnout and fatigue all decreased along with problems with sleep.

Even the environmental outcomes were encouraging, with commuting time falling across the full sample by a half hour per week.

Schor says she observed an encouraging consistency in the data, with results largely steady across workplaces of varying sizes, demonstrating this is an innovation which works for many types of organisations.

“There are also some interesting differences. We found that employees in non-profits and professional services had a larger average increase in time spent exercising, while those in construction and manufacturing enjoyed the largest reductions in burnout and sleep problems.”

Behavioural scientist and new CEO of 4-Day Week Global, Dr Dale Whelehan, explained the sample produced interesting differences in gender outcomes. “While men and women benefit from a 4-day week, women’s experience is generally better for burnout, life and job satisfaction, mental health and reduced commuting time.”

ALSO READ: 4-day work week pilot so successful, all participating companies sticking to it

4-day workweek also balances home tasks

Encouragingly, the research also showed that the burden of non-work duties appears to be balancing out, with more men taking on a greater share of housework and childcare.

Co-founder and MD of 4-Day Week Global, Charlotte Lockhart, says her team is delighted to be expanding the arguments in favour of a 4-day week with this new world-class academic research. “We look forward to adding our Australasian pilot results to this data set in the coming weeks and our European, South African, Brazilian and North American results in the coming months.”

4-Day Week Global was founded in New Zealand by entrepreneurs and philanthropists, Andrew Barnes and Charlotte Lockhart, following the world-renowned success of their pioneering trial of the 4-day week in Perpetual Guardian.

Their approach is based on the 100-80-100™ model designed by Lockhart alongside the Perpetual Guardian trial in 2018. That means 100% of the pay, for 80% of the time, in exchange for a commitment to deliver 100% of the output.

4-Day Week Global’s ambition is to make a 4-day week the new default and reduced working time the new standard.

No country has yet adopted the model fully nationwide; continued pilots and research are informing further policy decisions.