If nonstop pressure from your job is wearing you down, hang in there, because relief may be on the way. A four-day workweek is becoming increasingly likely. That extra day will make employees calmer, more productive, and happier, and for many it can’t come soon enough. Even employers support this idea.
A shorter workweek was introduced on a wide scale by entrepreneur Henry Ford in 1926 – nearly a century ago – to shorten the then typical six-day workweek to five without reducing workers’ pay. According to Wikipedia, the number of “Hours worked stabilized at about 49 per week during the 1920s and during the Great Depression it fell below 40.”
By the way, it’s been pointed out that Ford didn’t promote this policy for altruistic reasons. Rather, he believed it would encourage workers to spend more money and thereby strengthen the economy.
According to the website Culture Amp, “Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which required employers to pay overtime to all those who worked more than 44 hours a week. The Act was amended two years later to reduce the workweek to 40 hours. The 40-hour workweek became law in 1940.”
Better Work-Life Balance
This law had broad appeal, and it’s easy to understand why. From a business perspective, it’s been proven that relaxed workers are more productive. A shorter workweek enables workers to take care of their personal responsibilities, spend more time with family and friends, unwind and, in general, offers them a “better work-life balance and more time to take care of their physical and mental health,” as LinkedIn put it.
When the five-day workweek was introduced, labor organizations supported it as did many employees. This appealed to Jews in particular. Years ago, companies had the policy “if you don’t come in to work on Saturday, don’t bother coming in on Monday” (Saturday, at that time, was considered an ordinary work day). Of course, this created terrible hardships for Sabbath observers who would not work on Saturdays. They were fired and forced to look for a new job, only to have this pattern repeat itself again at the next job.
Over the years, laws that were more supportive of workers and their religious rights were passed. Maybe those are taken for granted today but, for many years, working “just” 40 hours a week, having a two-day weekend, and not getting fired for being observant was too good to be true.
These days, the work week is considerably shorter than it had been at any point until well into the 1900s. However, over the years, people’s personal and social needs have changed and, in many cases, the five-day workweek leaves them very pressured. This has given rise to the idea of a four-day work week, once unthinkable but very much in play now and supported by both employees and employers.
Good For Business
The four-day work week was put to a huge test in the UK in 2022 and it passed with flying colors: 61 companies with almost 3,000 employees participated for six months. The study was conducted by a team from the Univ. of Cambridge, Boston College and others who rated worker productivity, performance, wellbeing, innovation and other relevant criteria. 56 of the 61 companies that took part in the study (92%) decided to institute a four-day workweek after the trial period.
A closer look at the details explain why they did this. 71% of their employees – nearly three out of four – had reduced levels of burnout. And 39% said they were less stressed than when the trial had started.
There were additional benefits. There was a 65% reduction in sick days and a 57% decrease in turnover compared to the same six-month period one year before.
In addition, concerns that a four-day week would impact negatively on revenues proved to be unwarranted, as revenues rose on average by 1.4%.
Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said a four-day week made it easier to manage their parental and other responsibilities. And even more said it made balancing their work and social lives easier, particularly spending more time with family and friends, walking the dog, watching and playing sports, volunteering, and cooking.
Catching On
Many companies already support or are studying a four-day work week, including high tech, remote work, and others. In addition to the many small companies that got positive feedback, so did many large firms, including Amazon, Microsoft, Toshiba, and Lamborghini.
According to LinkedIn, companies that adopt this policy often do so in different ways. For example, some include Fridays in the weekend, while others add Mondays to the weekend. And still others break up the workweek by giving off Wednesdays.
Lessons From The Pandemic
Companies had to adapt when employees were unable to go to work during the pandemic and now are implementing the lessons they learned. As a result, major countries and companies began to support the four-day workweek and others are studying it.
Germany, for example, began a six-month trial starting February 2024 to find out if this really makes workers happier, healthier, and more productive. Other studies have concluded that it does and labor unions readily support it. This idea is also being studied in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Japan, and Spain.
Billionaires Barry Diller, Larry Page, and Steve Cohen are among the entrepreneurs who have added their support. By the way, Bill Gates supports a three-day work week, explaining that AI will be able to handle any mundane tasks that employees don’t get to.
With growing appeal to both businesses and employees and very positive feedback from trials in the U.S. and other countries, the four-day workweek appears to be on the way. Meanwhile, now you might want to think about how you’re going to spend your extra free time.
Sources: builtin.com; businessinsider.com; cultureamp.com; eh.com; linkedin.com; thetimes.co.uk; timesofindia.indiatimes.com; wikipedia.org
Gerald Harris is a financial and feature writer. Gerald can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
