There’s some good news for fans of a four-day workweek. People who worked eight fewer hours per week were just as productive as those clocking in for a standard 40-hour week, according to a newly released real-world study. And feedback on the four-day workweek was “overwhelmingly positive.”
The study was conducted by 4 Day Week Global in order to collect data on the viability of a shorter workweek. The study included a six-month trial in which employees at 33 companies lowered the number of hours worked from 40 to 32 per week, with most working four days a week instead of five. (At four of the 33 companies that participated in the trial, workers cut their total weekly hours from 40 to 32 but maintained a five-day workweek.) The salaried employees in the companies that participated in 4 Day Week Global’s trial worked received 100% of their usual pay while working the reduced hours. The result? Overall, workers’ well-being drastically improved when working four days a week compared with five, with employees saying they experienced less work-related stress. Over 67% of employees reported lower levels of burnout, which was defined for the purposes of the trial as tiredness, exhaustion and frustration. Additionally, overall employee job satisfaction jumped 45%. The four-day workweek was not a panacea, however. The rate of employee resignations during the trial did not change by a statistically significant amount from the rate during a control period of five-day workweeks. The study of 903 employees in the U.S., Ireland and some other unspecified countries was split into two trials, with one starting in February 2022 and the secon …