Wouldn’t it be great if we could only work four days a week and still get all of our work finished? New research suggests we can and that the five-day workweek is actually a waste of time. According to a new study from the nonprofit advocacy group 4 Day Week Global, employees are able to complete as much in a 33-hour work week as they do in a 38-hour one.
It’s the largest study of its kind and the first to analyze the long-term benefits of the four-day workweek, and it finds losing those five hours actually increases productivity.
- Researchers tracked workers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Ireland over 18 months, as they were given a paid day off every week, but their workloads stayed the same.
- It turns out, they were able to get the same amount of work done in less time, and the longer they kept a four-day work schedule, the shorter their workweeks became.
- During the first six months of the study, employees cut their average work time by about four hours.
- Even better? There were improvements in burnout, overall health, and job satisfaction.
- What didn’t change? Output and productivity.
- According to researchers, employees were able to shave hours off their average work time by eliminating time wasters, like meetings, so they have more time to devote to uninterrupted work.
Those who kept their four-day schedule for another year cut another hour off their workweek and reported even more improvements in their mental and physical health. But it wasn’t just good for the employees, it was equally good for the employers, who saw a 15% increase in revenue over the course of the study. The workers involved enjoyed the four-day weeks so much, 89% voted to keep them going, and every company participating agreed to it.⠀
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