March 7, 2023

A Four-Day Workweek Reduces Stress without Hurting Productivity

The results of a test involving dozens of employers and thousands of employees suggests that working only four days instead of five is good for workers’ well-being—without hurting companies

By Jan Dönges & Sophie Bushwick

Busy office loft scene.

Jose Luis Pelaez/Getty Images

Working four days instead of five—with the same pay—leads to improved well-being among employees without damaging the company’s productivity. That’s the recently reported result of a four-day workweek test that ran for six months, from June to December 2022, and involved a total of 61 U.K. companies with a combined workforce of about 2,900 employees.

During the COVID pandemic, many workers experienced increased stress and even burnout, a state of exhaustion that can make it difficult to meet work goals. “It’s a very huge issue,” says independent organizational psychologist and consultant Michael Leiter, who was not involved in the new report. “You see it particularly in health care, where I do a lot of my work. It’s making it much more difficult to hold on to talented people.” He explains that stress in the workplace makes it difficult for companies in health care and many other fields to recruit new hires and keep existing employees. But a greater awareness of burnout and related issues can have a positive effect, Leiter adds. “People are demanding more changes in how the work is organized,” he says.

That demand is what led the independent research organization Autonomy , in conjunction with the advocacy groups 4 Day Week Global and  4 Day Week Campaign and researchers at the University of Cambridge, Boston College and other institutions, to publish a report on what happens when companies reduce the number of days in a workweek. According to surveys of participants, 71 percent of respondents reported lower levels of burnout, and 39 percent reported being less stressed than when they began the test. Companies experienced 65 percent fewer sick and personal days. And the number of resignations dropped by more than half, compared with an earlier six-month period. Despite employees logging fewer work hours, companies’ revenues barely changed during the test period. In fact, they actually increased slightly, by 1.4 percent on average.

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Even before the COVID pandemic, companies tried to enhance employee well-being with interventions such as wellness programs. The new report suggests that a four-day workweek could be a tool for this purpose. “We think this is a far more effective and powerful way to have an impact on employees,” says report co-author Juliet Schor, an economist and sociologist at Boston College. Unlike most wellness benefits or flexible-hour schedules, which are typically options for individuals, the four-day week would be an organization-wide policy. As a result, Schor says, making that change would not harm workers’ career prospects or income.

When it comes to helping workers in distress, “so much of the effort goes into making them feel better rather than actually changing the nature of work,” Leiter says. “The kinds of results that [the researchers are] reporting are more substantial than many of those [wellness] programs. Because again, a lot of what these programs are doing are helping people tolerate the situation that they’re in rather than changing [that situation]. It’s a much more profound thing to do—to change the nature of work—than it is to help people put up with what they’ve got.”

This is not the only test of a shorter workweek. In 2008, for example, Utah  started a program to try to save building energy costs by closing state employees’ offices on Fridays, although that program kept employees working for 40-hour weeks and merely redistributed the hours over four days instead of five. Other researchers have studied workweeks or days with fewer hours, although those assessments have often included workers at only one organization. “Prior to 2022, which is when 4 Day Week Global began running trials of companies doing four-day weeks ..., to our knowledge, there were no multicompany studies of the four-day week,” Schor says. The organization has conducted multiple studies on the shortened week’s impact in other countries. The recent one in the U.K. was its largest effort thus far, however.

In addition to surveys, the researchers performed in-depth interviews with participants in the new report. From those interviews, it emerged that employees used the additional day off mostly for organization and everyday tasks. This, in turn, allowed them to reserve the weekend primarily for recreation, so they could spend time with their families and hobbies.

The test included companies from a variety of industries, including online retailers, financial services firms, animation studios and a fish-and-chips store. Each company chose how to implement its four-day week—making Friday a day off for everyone or allowing employees to choose any day off, for example. Participants also reduced hours by eliminating time-wasting tasks such as overlong meetings, the surveys found. Ninety-two percent of the companies that took part in the pilot program said they would continue to test the four-day week, and 18 companies decided to keep their reduced working hours permanently.

The test period of six months was relatively short, so it remains unclear whether the favorable impact on well-being will persist in the long term. Employees might become accustomed to the reduced working hours over time, and the lighter workweek would begin to have only a limited effect on stress levels. The researchers plan on conducting a follow-up survey with the participating companies that are maintaining a four-day workweek at the one-year mark in order to see if these positive results continue—and Schor expects they will. “One reason we think they will is that we did a midpoint survey on all of these,” she says. Key outcomes such as stress and burnout “improved in the first three months, and that improvement was maintained. So we do know that in months three to six, we didn’t get regression.”

Leiter would have preferred the team to have used a more established measure to assess burnout. The surveys asked questions related to exhaustion and frustration, he explains, rather than using an assessment like the Maslach Burnout Inventory , which is currently considered the gold standard. “There’s a colloquial idea of burnout, which is that it’s being tired, and it’s being really frustrated with work,” he says. In Leiter’s research , that state would be called “overextended,” he notes. “Burnout has that quality but is also being very cynical and discouraged and depersonalizing things and really losing your sense of accomplishment, which is a much more dark place to be.” Still, he says that the four-day workweek is likely to reduce this more rigorous definition of burnout as well, “because it gives people more control over their life and their relationship with work.”

Companies may be more willing to try out a four-day workweek after seeing new work-from-home policies succeed. “When companies switched to work from home because of the pandemic, this was something they had the technology to do all along and just were really reluctant to let people do it,” Schor says. “And so that really changed employers’ point of view. I think it opened their minds.” Leiter agrees. “I think people were very much into a rut about how work has to be organized,” he says. “What’s come out of the pandemic for a lot of people was reflection, saying, ‘It really doesn’t have to be that way. We can change things drastically—because we just did.’”

A version of this article originally appeared in Spektrum der Wissenschaft and was reproduced with permission.

A four-day workweek pilot was so successful most firms say they won’t go back

15 percent of employees who participated said that “no amount of money” would convince them to go back to working five days a week.

case study on 4 day work week

If the idea of working four days a week for the same pay sounds like music to your ears, the results of a pilot program from the United Kingdom may give you cause for hope.

Dozens of companies there took part in the world’s largest trial of the four-day workweek — and a majority of supervisors and employees liked it so much they’ve decided to keep the arrangement. In fact, 15 percent of the employees who participated said “no amount of money” would convince them to go back to working five days a week.

Nearly 3,000 employees took part in the pilot , which was organized by the advocacy group 4 Day Week Global , in collaboration with the research group Autonomy, and researchers at Boston College and the University of Cambridge.

Companies that participated could adopt different methods to “meaningfully” shorten their employees’ workweeks — from giving them one day a week off to reducing their working days in a year to average out to 32 hours per week — but had to ensure the employees still received 100 percent of their pay.

At the end of the experiment, employees reported a variety of benefits related to their sleep, stress levels, personal lives and mental health, according to results published Tuesday. Companies’ revenue “stayed broadly the same” during the six-month trial, but rose 35 percent on average when compared with a similar period from previous years. Resignations decreased.

Of the 61 companies that took part in the trial, 56 said they would continue to implement four-day workweeks after the pilot ended, 18 of which said the shift would be permanent. Two companies are extending the trial. Only three companies did not plan to carry on with any element of the four-day workweek.

The results are likely to put the spotlight back on shorter workweeks as a possible solution to the high levels of employee burnout and the “Great Resignation” phenomenon exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, amid a global movement calling for businesses to ditch the in-office, 9-to-5, five-day workweek and adopt more flexible working practices instead.

The world’s largest four-day workweek pilot just launched in the U.K.

Increased revenue, improved employee well-being

The findings from the U.K. trial build on the results of an earlier, smaller pilot published in November and also coordinated by 4 Day Week Global. That experiment, which involved about 30 companies and 1,000 employees in several countries, resulted in increased revenue, reduced absenteeism and resignations, and improved employee well-being. None of the participating firms planned to return to five-day workweeks after the pilot ended.

The 4 Day Week Global group is coordinating these pilot programs as part of its global campaign to encourage more firms to switch from the standard 40-hour workweek to a 32-hour model for the same pay and benefits.

The U.K. pilot program involved twice as many companies and nearly three times as many employees as the earlier pilot and is the largest of its kind. The benefits to participants extended beyond the office and into employees’ personal lives.

Those who took part were less likely to report that they felt they did not have enough time in the week to take care of their children, grandchildren or older people in their lives. The time men spent looking after children increased by more than double that of women, pointing to positive effects of a shorter workweek on gender equality — though there was no change in the share of housework men and women reported taking on.

A majority of employees who experienced the four-day workweek didn’t want to go back: At the end of the pilot, they were asked how much money they would have to receive from their next employer to go back to a five-day week. Nearly a third said they would require a 26- to 50-percent increase and 8 percent said they would want 50 percent higher pay.

Four-day weeks and the freedom to move anywhere: Companies are rewriting the future of work (again)

Better work-life balance

A better work-life balance is the reason Michelle, a 49-year-old media executive who asked to be identified by her first name so she could speak candidly about her past employment, insisted on a four-day workweek when she applied to her current position. After working three- and then four-day weeks when she returned from maternity leave in 2015, she noticed a “stark” difference when she shifted back to five-day weeks working for a different company during the pandemic.

“Suddenly, it felt like my entire life was about work,” she says. She came “close to burnout” and, when her contract at that company ended, she was clear with prospective employers that she wanted to work four days a week. In her current position, she has Fridays off and is paid 80 percent of what she would earn if she worked five days.

“It feels like I can breathe,” she said. “It feels like I’m not constantly behind with my family life and feeling guilty and like squashing all of the jobs and errands and everything into two days.”

The extra time off is particularly helpful for child care, she says. She co-parents her 9-year-old son, who is autistic. In her previous job, when she worked three- or four-day weeks, the extra time “meant I could pick him up from school, we could spend more time together,” she says. “It makes a huge amount of difference to parents.”

A four-day workweek in Maryland? Maybe. Bill would set up a pilot program.

While the four-day workweek model has gained some steam, it’s still not standard practice globally, and much of the research on the policy is limited by size. Most of the companies that took part in the U.K. trial were small — 66 percent had 25 or fewer employees — and predisposed to exploring the concept of flexible work. Ninety percent of the participating employees were White, and 68 percent had at least an undergraduate degree.

Opponents of the four-day workweek say while the policy may benefit some workers, it is not feasible for many , including workers in key industries such as child care and health care , which already face widespread staff shortages. Some workers would rather work more and earn more. And some skeptics believe that employees’ productivity would eventually decrease if the four-day workweek was made permanent.

Proponents of the policy emphasize that there is no one-size-fits-all and that the benefits of a shorter workweek could reverberate throughout society, lowering health-care costs and reducing emissions from daily commutes. Their ideas are becoming more mainstream . Several large-scale trials of shorter workweeks are underway globally. In 2021, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) introduced a bill that would reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours and mandate overtime pay for work done beyond that limit.

There is precedent for a large-scale change in the standard workweek: As The Washington Post has previously noted , before the Great Depression, it wasn’t uncommon for employees in the United States to work six-day weeks. The 40-hour workweek was first codified into U.S. law in 1938. The argument put forward by groups such as 4 Day Week Global is that “we’re overdue for an update.”

Rachel Pannett contributed to this report.

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case study on 4 day work week

case study on 4 day work week

The case for a 4-day work week

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Juliet Schor

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The four-day work week: a chronological, systematic review of the academic literature

  • Published: 13 April 2023

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  • Timothy T. Campbell   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5173-8086 1  

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Despite having been propounded for at least 50 years, the four-day work week (4DWW) has recently attracted global attention. The media headlines are dominated by the positive outcomes that can be expected by converting to a 4DWW. However, on examination the claims often have foundations that derive from reports published by advocacy groups and organisation’s self-reported results rather than scholarly research. This paper turns to the academic literature and uses a chronological, systematic review method to address the questions of what positives and negatives can be attributed to the 4DWW? Does the scholarly research support the popular contemporary claims? And what can be learned from more than 50 years of scholarly 4DWW publications that can inform future research? Drawing on 31 academic articles that specifically researched the 4DWW, the conclusions found that the majority demonstrated favourable results such as increased morale, job satisfaction, cost reductions and reduced turnover whilst negatives included performance measures and monitoring being intensified, scheduling problems, and that benefits may fade over time. The impact on productivity and the environment were inconclusive. Overall, the scholarly research paints a more complicated and ambiguous picture compared to that presented by 4DWW advocates and the media. More contemporary research utilising rigorous methodologies is required.

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What Leaders Need to Know Before Trying a 4-Day Work Week

  • Emma Russell,
  • Caroline Murphy,

case study on 4 day work week

Without adjusting workloads, a schedule change can make burnout worse.

While there is no easy way to address concerns about how (and how much) we work, research tells us that no matter what we do, taking a holistic, long-term focus on the well-being of the workforce is the best path to both happiness and prosperity. Maybe the answer is a four-day workweek. Or maybe it’s something else. But we must start with an honest appraisal of how productivity and time trade-offs impact the well-being of workers. Before trying a four-day workweek, employers need to be aware of two important factors. First, a reduction in hours must also be accompanied by a revision of or even reduction in workload. Second, time at work could become even more intense and stressful for workers, even if there are productivity benefits to be had.

Despite the gains workers have made through the Covid pandemic in increasing flexibility in where they work, bigger workloads have meant that there is little slack in the system for people to take time out and recover. The effects are obvious. In 2020, 62% of people reported that they had experienced burnout “often” or “extremely often” in the previous three months, and in 2021, 67% of workers reported that stress and burnout had increased since the pandemic. Perhaps it is no surprise then that initiatives such as the four-day workweek , remote and hybrid working , unlimited paid time off , and right-to-disconnect have been gaining in popularity in an attempt to tackle these high-workload, always-on cultures.

  • ER Emma Russell is a Chartered and Registered Occupational Psychologist, Co-Lead of the Data Observatory and Mid-Early Career Research stream at the ESRC-funded Digit Centre, and a Senior Lecturer in Occupational and Organisational Psychology at the University of Sussex.
  • CM Caroline Murphy is a Senior Lecturer in Employment Relations, and Director of the MSc in HRM at the Department of Work and Employment Studies at the Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick.
  • ET Esme Terry is a is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change (CERIC), Leeds University Business School. Her role is funded by the ESRC-funded Digit Centre.

Partner Center

New research may have just paved the way for a 4-day work week

  • A new global study found a four-day work week was a "resounding success" in a pilot program.
  • It found revenue increased over 8% over the six-month trial period for 33 participating companies.
  • On the employee side, respondents reported less burnout, less fatigue, and an increase in physical health.

Insider Today

If you're trying to convince your boss to adopt a four-day work week, a new study just might help your case.

On Tuesday, 4 Day Week Global — a New Zealand based nonprofit — released data taken from 33 participating companies that employed 969 people based in the US, Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada who all adopted a four-day work week in a pilot program over a six-month period.

The research found the shortened work week was a "resounding success on virtually every dimension."

"Companies are extremely pleased with their performance, productivity and overall experience, with almost all of them already committing or planning to continue with the 4 day week schedule," the report said. "Revenue has risen over the course of the trial. Sick days and absenteeism are down. Companies are hiring. Resignations fell slightly, a striking finding during the 'Great Resignation.' Employees are similarly enthusiastic. And climate impacts, while less well-measured, are also encouraging."

Over the trial period, revenue among the participating companies rose 8.14%, and when compared to the same time period last year, revenue jumped 37.55%. And on the employee side, the findings were significant — 67% of employees reported being less burned-out, the extra day without work allowed exercise to increase by about 23 minutes per week, and sleep problems decreased by 8%.

Additionally, even with less time each week to complete work, the respondents in the survey did not see a significant increase to their workload.

A respondent said in the report that they view the shortened work week as "equivalent to ~25% pay bump," with another saying that "the trial has been fantastic, allowing me to take the extra day or time when I can. Due to the nature of this role it isn't always possible, however even having the chance or possibility to do so has made a big difference in my lifestyle."

While five-day work weeks remain the norm in the US, some companies have started testing out shorter weeks and have reported huge successes. As Insider previously reported , a Chick-fil-A owner in Florida launched a three-day work week and received 400 applications for one job, despite the 13 or 14-hour shifts.

The four-day work week has also caught attention of some lawmakers. The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC)  has previously endorsed the "32-Hour Workweek Act," first introduced by California Rep. Mark Takano last year and supported by unions like the AFL-CIO and SEIU. 

"It is past time that we put people and communities over corporations and their profits — finally prioritizing the health, wellbeing, and basic human dignity of the working class rather than their employers' bottom line," CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal said in a statement. "The 32-hour work week would go a long way toward finally righting that balance."

case study on 4 day work week

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The world’s biggest trial of the four day work week has come to an end. These are the results 

Companies across the UK have been testing out the four day work week.

Companies across the UK have been testing out the four day work week. Image:  Unsplash/Campaign Creators

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case study on 4 day work week

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This article has been updated. It was originally published on 21 June 2022.

  • Workers at more than 60 UK companies trialed a four day work week between June and December 2022.
  • More than 90% of participating businesses have opted to continue with the four day week, with 18 adopting it permanently.
  • Similar experiments have taken place elsewhere in the world with positive results.
  • Supporters say the four day work week boosts productivity, but critics say it is impractical in certain sectors.

Is the four-day work week a good idea, or is it unworkable for many industries – and even many people? The UK has been finding out in what’s been heralded as the biggest ever experiment based on this working model.

UK four day work week: The results so far

The majority of employers who took part in the project say they've seen productivity levels maintained, and improvements in staff retention and well-being. Business revenue stayed broadly the same, there was a 65% reduction in the number of sick days and 71% of employees reported lower levels of burnout.

The pilot project ran between June and December 2022 and was based on the 100-80-100 model : this means workers got 100% pay for working 80% of their previous hours in exchange for a commitment to maintain 100% productivity.

Of the 61 companies that took part, 56 say they will continue trying out the four-day week following the pilot, while 18 say they will make the change permanently.

The majority of companies taking part in the four day work week trial plan to continue with the policy.

Around 2,900 employees took part in the trial, in sectors from marketing and advertising, to finance, digital manufacturing and food retail. It was run by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with Autonomy, the 4 Day Week Campaign and researchers from the University of Cambridge and Boston College.

Have you read?

How to follow the growth summit 2023, the future of jobs report 2023, future of jobs 2023: these are the fastest growing and fastest declining jobs.

"This is a major breakthrough moment for the movement towards a four day work week. “Across a wide variety of different sectors of the economy, these incredible results show that the four-day week with no loss of pay really works," says Joe Ryle, Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign.

Pros and cons of a four day work week

More than 80% of people in the UK would prefer a four-day work week , according to a survey in 2021 by recruitment company Reed. It lists the advantages of the four-day model as:

Improved morale and fewer absences: A shorter working week leads to less burnout, making staff happier and more focused in their roles.

Helps recruitment: Offering potential and existing employees a flexible working pattern will help attract and retain talented professionals.

However, there are also some potential disadvantages of the four-day work week, the recruitment agency says:

It doesn’t suit all industries: Some sectors require a seven-day-a-week presence, which could make a short working week impractical. Examples include emergency services, public transport networks and logistics.

It doesn’t suit all workers: Some employees prefer the structure of a five-day week, and some like working overtime.

It can increase costs: Some sectors, such as healthcare, require staff to work long shifts. Companies in these areas may have to pay more overtime or draft staff in to make any shortfalls.

The Forum’s Platform for Shaping the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Production pioneered the Global Lighthouse Network in 2018. Now, 69 factories / sites are a part of the network, prioritizing workforce and skills development to protect jobs and build resiliency

A new report launched in March 2021 also shows that despite the COVID-19 pandemic’s unprecedented disruption, 93% of Global Lighthouse Network factories achieved an increase in product output and found new revenue streams.

The future belongs to those companies willing to embrace disruption and capture new opportunities. The lighthouses are illuminating the future of manufacturing and the future of the industry.

The Global Lighthouse Network an initiative of the Forum’s Platform for Shaping the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Production , is conducted in collaboration with McKinsey & Company.

Companies can apply to join the Global Lighthouse Network via the Platform for Shaping the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Production .

Four day work week experiments in other parts of the world

Belgium: Belgian employees recently won the right to work a full week in four days without loss of salary. People will be able to decide whether to work four or five days a week.

New Zealand: Consumer goods giant Unilever says that following encouraging results from an 18-month pilot in New Zealand, it is expanding a four-day week trial to its business in Australia. "The New Zealand trial showed strong results against business targets, including revenue growth, with the vast majority of staff reporting feeling engaged, and absenteeism dropping 34%," the firm said.

Iceland: The country ran a four-day work week trial between 2015 and 2019. It found that the well-being of 2,500 workers who took part increased in terms of health and work-life balance.

Appetite for a more condensed work week also appears to be strong in the United States. A 2019 poll of 36,000 Americans carried out by YouGov America found that two-thirds of respondents would prefer a four-day work week – regardless of whether that meant longer working hours on those days.

Most Americans say they would prefer a four day work week.

Shorter working weeks are nothing new

The five-day week is often credited to Henry Ford , who in 1914 proposed that his car production switch from a six-day to a five-day rota. The creation of unions in the 20th century helped to make a five-day week and two days’ rest the norm.

Four-day work weeks became three times more common in the United States between 1973 and 2018, with an additional 8 million employees working such a pattern, according to research by the IZA Institute of Labor Economics. The rise wasn’t due to changes in demographics or industrial structures, but more a result of workers’ and employers’ preferences, the study notes.

Four day work weeks became three times more common in the US between 1973 and 2018.

New thinking is needed

The traditional nine-to-five, five-day work week “looks more old fashioned than a Ford Model T”, said global staffing company Manpower Group’s Chairman and CEO Jonas Prising, at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos in May 2022.

All the signs point to an evolving definition of work , he added, flagging the need for companies to listen, learn and adapt to what employees want. He believes a four-day work week is the latest positive change in this area.

What does a four-day work week mean for the future of work? 

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Four-Day Work Week: Pilot & Early Challenges [An SEJ Case Study, Part 1]

Since September 2022, SEJ has implemented a four-day work week. What hiccups did the team run into? Find out how we fared so far.

In September, Search Engine Journal staff voted to approve a trial run of a four-day work week program!

We’re running the program in partnership with 4 Day Week Global as a six-month pilot.

One of the key tenets of the trial internally is that it’s employee-led – which is why leadership asked for an employee vote on whether to begin the trial. Leadership also nominated a committee of employees to hear concerns and implement a policy regarding the trial.

We’re coming up to the halfway point of our trial, and I wanted to write about some of the successes and challenges we’ve encountered so far.

If you’re thinking about implementing a four-day work week trial for your company, I hope this information can help you prepare!

The Four-Day Work Week Program

The four-day work week experiment has a few key tenets:

  • It has to work for everyone.
  • People shouldn’t be trying to fit more time into their week in other ways. It should be 100% pay, 80% time, and 100% productivity.
  • The end result should make life better and less stressful during the work week – not more stressful.

The Biggest Challenges With A Four-Day Work Week

If you’re reading this article, I’m going to assume you’re already on board with the potential benefits of four-day work weeks .

We’ve experienced many benefits, and I’ll go through them in a future article.

Let’s get right into the challenges we discovered with the pilot program and the solutions we’ve implemented so far.

A Four-Day Work Week Has Different Implications For Different Teams

Teams that deal with anyone externally may have a more difficult adjustment to four-day weeks.

External facing teams, like sales, account management, and media, lose a day during which their contacts might send important or time-sensitive messages.

If your company’s schedule isn’t effectively communicated, this may cause frustration and missed deadlines.

These teams may have additional concerns about the KPIs they’re responsible for, and whether they’ll need to be on-call to deal with urgent issues that come up during off days.

We decided to resist the temptation to try and find workarounds that ensure we keep coverage for the full week.

This may not work for your company. As 4 Day Week Global says, there isn’t one solution that works for every company.

We discussed at length the possibility of having different teams or different employees working different schedules.

However, four-day weeks are a difficult adjustment, and the more complicated you make it internally, the more likely you won’t get full implementation across the whole company.

Many companies have employees who feel that it’s necessary to put in extra hours.

To keep everything fair and prevent some employees from taking on additional burdens, we decided that everyone should take the same day off, and it should be enforced as closure time – at least for the duration of our trial.

There have been some situations where people put in extra time on a Friday (I’ve done it, though only twice), but in general, we find that the temptation is less prominent if everyone observes the same day. It’s easier to maintain the cultural message that we are closed on a single day.

So, how do you solve the problems external teams will encounter?

Clear communication is our answer. Be public about your new schedule, and reach out to any external stakeholders to inform them.

You’ll need to send constant reminders. It’s good to put the information on your website, email signatures, and any boilerplate messages you send externally.

This requires support from leadership and every employee to ensure that external-facing teams don’t take on a heavier burden than others.

We’re still implementing this. Different teams have different communication responsibilities.

A Four-Day Work Week Impacts Part-Time And Hourly Employees, And Contractors Differently

For salaried employees, the four-day work week calculation is pretty easy: 100% pay, 80% time, 100% productivity.

SEJ employs people all over the world and has a variety of different contracts and arrangements. We have some full-time contractors, some part-time contractors, and even some hourly arrangements.

How to ensure that the four-day week is an equal benefit for all parties is a challenge we continue to address.

Our priority is an employee-lead approach to these questions.

Because we have so many different types of employment arrangements, how to best manage the program for each type of employee is an ongoing conversation, and contract employees have representation on the internal committee making policy decisions during the trial.

We discovered a variety of opinions about the best way to handle the different arrangements, and the employee committee has presented some possibilities to leadership.

We used existing information from 4 Day Week Global, especially some of its case studies, to guide our conversations.

Do Holidays Create Three-Day Weeks?

During the second week of our trial, we ended up with a three-day week.

This caused quite a bit of frustration and concern. That extension of reduced hours puts a lot of pressure on employees who have performance KPIs to meet.

Part of the issue is that we had a policy that moved the observance of holidays that fall on weekends into weekdays. We were observing Saturday holidays on Fridays, and Sunday holidays on Mondays.

With the four-day work week, we decided that we should modify that policy.

Holidays that fall on Fridays and Saturdays will no longer be observed during the work week. Holidays that fall during the week, and those that fall on Sundays, will still result in days off.

That way, employees can still benefit from the occasional extra-short week, but we aren’t creating too many high-stress weeks with less time to get things done.

Four-Day Weeks Exacerbate Existing Productivity Pain Points – This Is Good, Actually

If you have issues with your workflow or productivity, experimenting with four-day weeks will make them urgent.

And that’s good.

It’s easy to get so caught up with the day-to-day work and the most critical deadlines that your housekeeping suffers. Whether individual employee, team, or company, it’s difficult to find time to improve efficiency and remove roadblocks.

Losing a day makes this work urgent and necessary. It will also show you where the biggest pain points are.

This can be a bit of a shock. If you have a particular process taking up a lot of time (like, I don’t know, meetings), it will suddenly get much more problematic for everyone involved.

We found this very informative, and it’s been a big push that we all needed to tackle inefficiencies as a team.

We’re still working on it. The problem with less time is that, well, you have less time.

But here’s where we feel that our employee-led effort is critical: Our committee of employees overseeing the program has been empowered to make decisions and set goals. All employees have been invited to share their experiences, struggles, and suggestions via an anonymized suggestion box.

For this program to work, you need the truth:

  • Who feels like they have to work extra time?
  • Who is more stressed about the program, and why?
  • Does anyone feel that implementation has been unfair?

These aren’t truths everyone will feel comfortable putting their name to, or taking directly to leadership.

That’s why SEJ thought it was important to have a committee of employees from multiple levels that was empowered not only to hear employee concerns, but also to make decisions about the program.

How Is SEJ’s Four-Day Work Week Working?

As you can see, we had plenty of challenges! The above isn’t an exhaustive list of the roadblocks and stumbles we’ve had along the way.

We’re about halfway into the program, and while we still have many kinks to work out, the overall sentiment is positive.

We definitely have some big questions to answer and some big workflow issues to tackle.

The four-day work week not only gives us more control over our personal lives but also pushes us to solve existing problems that we may not have otherwise prioritized.

We’re gathering feedback from all team members about the program as we go. I’ll write an update soon to discuss some of the results.

More resources: 

  • The Four-Day Work Week – Will It Work For Your Marketing Team? [Podcast]
  • Is The 4-Day Week The Future Of Work? A Q&A With Joe O’Connor
  • How To Build A Remote Team For SEO: Planning & Structure

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4 countries that are embracing—or experimenting with—the 4-day workweek

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The four-day workweek is picking up steam across the globe. 

Dozens of countries including Ireland, Spain and the UK have tested a 4-day workweek, with overwhelmingly positive results : Businesses that participated in a six-month trial in the UK, which ended in December 2022, said switching to a 4-day workweek improved productivity, morale and team culture.

On the employee side, people said having more personal time reduced burnout and boosted life satisfaction, according to self-reporting from trial participants.

Although no country has fully adopted a 4-day workweek, some countries are experimenting with one or have policies that allow workers to request a shorter schedule. Here are four countries where the 4-day workweek has been widely adopted, or is being tested:

South Africa

More than 500 employees at 28 companies are participating in South Africa's 4-day workweek trial, which began in March and will continue until September. A second trial is planned to start in June. 

The experiment is being run by 4 Day Week South Africa , which is a branch of 4 Day Week Global, the same group that helped organize the UK trial. 

There are 28 companies and more than 500 employees participating in the trial, says Karen Lowe, director of 4 Day Week South Africa. 

The experiment uses a 100-80-100 model: workers receive 100% of the pay for working 80% of the time and still delivering 100% of their usual output. 

In early 2022, the Belgian government announced a reform package that gives workers the right to work four days instead of five without losing their salary. The law officially went into effect in November 2022.

Under this scheme, workers are still expected to maintain the same amount of hours over four (longer) days instead of five and would have an extra day off to compensate. 

Employers, however, still have the right to turn down an employee's request for a shortened workweek, on condition that they submit their refusal in writing and give solid reasons for their decision.

"The goal is to give people and companies more freedom to arrange their work time," Belgium Prime Minister Alexander de Croo said in February 2022, as reported by Bloomberg . "If you compare our country with others, you'll often see we're far less dynamic."

Between 2015 and 2019, Iceland led one of the largest 4-day workweek pilots to date, with close to 2,500 people participating. 

The trial was considered an "overwhelming success" among researchers, with employees reporting improved well-being, work-life balance and productivity.

As of 2022, workers represented by unions in Iceland — close to 90% of the workforce — have won the right to request a shorter workweek, says Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, the global programs and research manager for 4 Day Week Global.

However, uptake of the 4-day workweek among businesses in Iceland's private sector "seems to be slow," he adds, as many employers are placing the onus on individuals to negotiate for worktime reductions instead of offering a 4-day workweek as an automatic benefit to all employees.

In 2021, the Japanese government's annual economic policy guidelines included a recommendation that companies let employees opt for a four-day workweek and, by extension, a 3-day weekend. Kuniko Inoguchi , a Japanese politician from the Liberal Democratic Party and economist, spearheaded the proposal.

The recommendation to switch to a 4-day workweek is meant to improve employees' work-life balance, giving them more time to take care of family members, further their education or go out with friends, the Washington Post reports. 

There are a number of companies in Japan that have experimented with 4-day workweeks, including Microsoft and Panasonic, which piloted 4-day workweeks for their Japan-based employees in 2019 and 2022, respectively. 

Other companies in Japan have implemented the 4-day workweek permanently, says Pang, including banking giant Mizuho and tech firm Cross River , whose CEO, Shinji Koshikawa, has been a "vocal advocate" for a 4-day workweek.

For decades, the 4-day workweek was seen as a fringe concept that wouldn't catch on — but now, it's become a serious policy consideration for businesses struggling to combat burnout and retain employees. 

The share of companies offering a 4-day workweek benefit reached the 10% threshold for the first time last year, according to a recent Payscale report . 

"Employees are looking for flexibility," Payscale pay equity analyst Ruth Thomas recently told CNBC Make It , "potentially as they continue to experience a decline in real wage growth [and] seeing themselves working longer hours, they're seeking some level of return."

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What is Microsoft 4 Day Work Week? Plus Research Results

Explore the microsoft 4-day work week and its impact on employees' well-being and productivity. dive into detailed research results of this innovative program., 8 jun, 2023, work life balance guides.

What is Microsoft 4 Day Work Week? Plus Research Results

In today's fast-paced world, Microsoft, a tech giant, is challenging the traditional workweek with its bold experiment: the Microsoft 4-Day Work Week.

4-Day Work Week allows employees to enjoy an extra day off each week to nurture their well-being and pursue personal passions.

This initiative has sparked widespread interest and discussions, questioning its benefits, feasibility, and impact on job satisfaction and success.

Join us as we delve into Microsoft's 4-day workweek study to uncover research results and gain a comprehensive understanding of its operation.

What is the Microsoft 4-Day Work Week Study?

Microsoft 4-Day Work Week Study

Did you know that the concept of a shortened workweek has been explored for decades? Back in 1922, the Ford Motor Company initiated trials to reduce the workweek from six days to five. This eventually led to the establishment of a permanent five-day, 40-hour week after four years.

Fast forward to 2019, when Microsoft Japan embarked on its experiment called "Work-Life Challenge 2019 Summer." This pilot program aimed to assess the impact of a four-day workweek on productivity, motivation, well-being, and job satisfaction.

During the test, Microsoft employees worked for only 32 hours while receiving the same pay. To achieve this, the company's offices were closed every Friday in August, granting workers a long, relaxing three-day weekend.

How Did the Microsoft Work-Life Challenge 2019 Summer Work?

Microsoft 4-Day Work Week Study

With Japanese employees facing some of the longest working hours globally, the Microsoft workweek study brought much-needed relief to the overburdened workforce in Japan.

So, to implement the pilot program successfully and encourage staff to embrace the four-day workweek, Microsoft Japan introduced several initiatives, such as:

  • Closing offices on all Fridays (2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th) in August 2019
  • Offering full-time employees special paid leave
  • Restricting meetings to a maximum of 30 minutes
  • Promoting online discussions as an alternative to face-to-face meetings
  • Implementing a work-life choice employee support program that included support programs for expenses related to self-development, family travel, and social contribution activities, among others

Microsoft’s Work-Life Choice Challenge 2019 Winter

To ensure a flawless 4-day work schedule, the company identified three pillars in this experiment:

Smart Vacations

Rather than providing additional paid leave, Microsoft encouraged its employees to utilize their existing paid vacations, as well as year-end and New Year's holidays. This approach granted workers increased flexibility when it came to taking time off.

Efficient Time Management

Microsoft Japan promoted “communication etiquette” by setting a maximum meeting duration of 30 minutes and leveraging Microsoft Teams for effective collaboration and communication.

Enjoy the Challenge

To breathe life into the program, the company organized internal contests aimed at enhancing employee participation. These contests encouraged staff members to share innovative ideas related to time off, work strategies, and upskilling opportunities.

Results of Microsoft's 4-Day Workweek Program

Microsoft Work Life Choice Challenge Results

Source: Microsoft Work Life Choice Challenge Results

One of Microsoft Japan’s test findings is that the 4-day workweek can enhance the balance between work and life.

It offers employees more time to work on their private projects and spend quality time with family or friends.

A three-day long weekend can also provide you with more days to unwind and destress, leading to improved mental health.

Seeking a better work-life balance? The 4-Day Work platform showcases 300+ leading tech companies that provide a 4-day work week (typically 32 hours) without any salary reduction.

Here are some more results from Microsoft Japan’s four-day workweek pilot program :

  •   Number of working days in August 2019 dropped by 25.4% (compared to August 2018).   
  •   Compared to August 2016, employees printed 58.7% fewer pages during the trial.   
  •   The office's electricity consumption decreased by 23.1% from August 2018 to August 2019.

Improvement

  •   August 2019 "30-minute meeting" adoption rate increased by 46% (compared to August 2018).   
  •   As compared to April to June 2019, the "remote meeting" implementation ratio improved by 21% in August 2019.   
  •   Compared to August 2018, the number of networks (personnel exchange) increased by 10% in August 2019.   
  •   The company noticed an almost 40% increase in productivity.

Impact on Employee Satisfaction and Work-Life Balance

  • Overall evaluation of Work-Life Choice Challenge 2019 Summer: Over 94 percent of workers reported positive experiences during the trial
  • Evaluation of the 4-day workweek and 3-day workweek systems: 92 percent of employees were happy with the four-day workweek schedule
  • ” For Work ” category changes/effects on awareness/behavior: Over 96 percent said that the 4-day workweek made significant positive changes in their work
  • “ For Life ” category changes/effects on awareness/behavior: 97 percent of staff reported positive changes in their lifestyles
  • “ For Society ” category "Changes/effects on awareness/behavior: 83% of workers said the program had meaningful changes in their community

Microsoft Work Life Balance

Source: Comparably

Impact on Employee Time Off and Benefit Programs

According to the company, the four-day workweek had an impact on employee time off and benefit programs in the following ways:

  • Increase in long-term vacations: 55% of employees took summer or paid vacations in addition to special vacations and 6% of employees took long-term vacations of 10 days or more
  • An increase in the uptake of the “Benefit Points/Wellness Points” because of the implementation of the Work-Life Choice Employee Support Program
  • The firm received 1,629 applications from employees for activities from July to September. That’s 1.7 times more than in the same period of the previous year
  • Benefit points/wellness points were common in: sports/leisure (43%), domestic travel (21%), relaxation (7%), and self-development (7%)
  • Three times as many employees used the domestic travel expense subsidy for five consecutive weekdays

It’s Time to Grab a 4-Day Workweek Job

A 4-day work schedule offers numerous benefits for employees. Microsoft's four-day trials have demonstrated that a compressed workweek can greatly enhance workers' well-being.

With an additional day off, you have more time to relax and recharge, leading to improved concentration, productivity, and overall job satisfaction.

So, if you're in search of a career that provides a better work-life balance, check out 4 Day Week current jobs opening which offers 4-day work schedules (typically 32 hours).

This portal offers a wide range of opportunities with hundreds of companies actively seeking remote employees.

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Case study: Awin’s four-day work week wonders

Earlier this year, awin adopted a four-day working week for all of its staff (including those in the us). and it now says it wouldn't ever go back to a five-day week..

  • Employee Relations
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Article main image

It only takes a casual glance at the latest Glassdoor reviews for intelligence and insights company, Awin, to quickly glean everything you need to know about what currently makes this three-time ‘ Great Places To Work’ company so good to work for right now.

“Four-day work week – incredible perk,” says one; “ Great work life balance by them including introducing a four-day working week,” says another; “ Four-day working week; super happy to be working for Awin,” says one more – and so the reviews go on.

In fact anyone who mentions anything to do with a four-day working week has – rather understandably – only got praise for it.

The perk – available to all of Awin’s entire global workforce – was officially introduced in February 2023.

It followed a successful 18 month trial beginning in 2021, which also saw the UK arm of Awin be one of the 61 organizations taking part in the UK’s much publicized 4-day week pilot programme (which saw 18 of the firms included decide to make a four-day week a permanent feature. And, so popular is Awin’s officially titled ‘ Flexi-Week’ that there are no plans to ever reverse it.

Four-day work weeks – they’re still rare in the US

Even though most Americans would love to work a shorter week (a 2023 poll by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on behalf of Newsweek found 71% of Americans say they would support a four-day workweek, with only 4% of staff opposing it), Awin is definitely in the minority when it comes to actually offering it.

For starters, the anti-four day week lobby is incredibly strong. It’s so strong that in California, for example, which has attempted to legislate a four-day week 14 times since 2005, it’s proposed shorter working week bill has never once made it out of committee stage.

Meanwhile – if truth be told – the experience of some who have tried it hasn’t been all that great either.

Some firms have tried it, such as Los Angeles-based market research firm, Alter Agents, have since decided to renege on it, citing lack of cover for days when staff are off, and lower employee satisfaction.

What makes Awin different?

So what has Awin been able to do that others haven’t?

Meredith Lankenau​​​​ is Awin’s people and culture business partner, based in Chicago, Illinois, and – speaking exclusively to TLNT – she reveals that Awin’s success is all done to broad desire to improve employees’ wellbeing, but also good planning too:

“If you think back, we’d already transitioned to remote working due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and as part of this, we had already transitioned into half days on Fridays, to give people a chance to reconnect with the families, and de-stress,” she says.

“This made going into the trial – from January 2021 onwards, not a massive jump for many.”

She adds: “We could all see that the wellbeing issue was dramatically rising up the agenda, and so for us, we really thought this was a chance to try it out for ourselves. People have asked whether there was fear from executives about doing it, but we took an approach where we involved the rest of the company in planning for it early – talking to people from different areas of the business – around what might be impacted from a clients services point of view, and what would be needed for other departments, such as marketing and sales.”

The result, she says, was the creation of a system where teams assiduously planned when the best times would be for certain people to be off, so that projects could still be serviced.

“We didn’t just have everyone off on a Monday or Friday – that wouldn’t have worked,” says Lankenau. “People typically had their day a week ‘off’ during the week, so that the business could still run smoothly.”

Transparency and technology too

Unlike some companies – which decided not to tell their clients they were even doing a four-day work week – the decision was also taken to let customers know – so that expectations could be managed.

The new working week isn’t a complete free for all either.

Where there is already a public holiday on a particular week – such as 4 th July – then that becomes their day ‘off’ for that week, rather than employees taking their public holiday, plus another day that week.

But crucially, says Lankenau, the decision to go to a four-day week was also supported by the firm investing in new productivity-boosting technology for staff, so that that employees had a fighting chance of being able to do the same, if not more, work in one less day.

So what have the results been?

Well, according to Lankenau, they have been nothing short of stunning.

Results from the pilot – which led to the creation of its permanent Flexi-Week policy were:

  • A 13% average annual growth in profits between 2019-2022
  • 92% of staff self report being more productive at work
  • 70% of staff say the quality of their work has improved, and that they are less stressed at work
  • A 33% reduction in regrettable employee turnover
  • Sick leave days decreasing by 21%
  • NPS scores improving by 20.7 points
  • 94% of staff say their work-life balance has improved
  • 90% of staff feel they now have time to do the things they did not before
  • 85% of staff say that Flexi-Week plays a significant role in their decision to stay at Awin

Says Lankenau: “The results really did exceed our expectations. Staff tell us they now have the time to devote to a new hobby; or that they have more time for their families.”

She adds: “Prospective employees also see this as a massive plus-point for them, because what we’re doing is approaching this the right way.”

She explains: “We’re not like other organizations, who are not doing four-day weeks properly – which is still wanting their staff to do five days’ work, but in four days – ie the same hours, in less time. We’re specifically saying just do four days’ work, doing normal working hours [ie 32 hours a week], and for the same level of pay too.”

Productivity is still monitored

Lankenau puts the success of Awin’s four-day week down to making sure managers still ensure service level agreements are met, and that workloads are properly managed. She adds: “We’re still looking a ways in which teams can tweak how their work, to make sure this continues to be a success.”

She also says these interventions should ensure that staff’s productivity doesn’t drift off to old-style five-day week standards.

Says Lankenau: “A lot of this comes back to asking why we wanted to do this in the first place. We wanted to look at people from a productivity perspective, not just how long they sit behind a desk for. We’re absolutely committed to ensuring the benefits we’ve so far enjoyed don’t slip back – but we don’t think they will.”

The $64,000 question, or course, will be whether Awin’s experience will give other organizations the confidence to try it for themselves.

“I think there is a lot of fear still about a four-day working week,” she says. “But while it may not work for every organization, I do believe that other firms could be asking the sorts of questions we were. I don’t think enough of them have been doing this.”

Lankenau concludes: “Implementing a four-day week requires firms to look at the working week in a different way – in terms of what outcomes they want for themselves and for their employees. But it shouldn’t be something they should necessarily be scared of.”

What the data says:

  • 63% of businesses say it’s easier to attract and retain talent with a four-day week
  • 78% of employees working a four-day week say they are happier and less stressed

(Source: 4dayweek.com)

The 40-hour work-week was first codified into US law in 1938.

What progress is there around four-day weeks?

  • L awmakers in Massachusetts introduced a bill in April that would provide employers with a tax credit if they shift at least 15 workers to four days a week without cutting their pay.
  • In January, legislators in Maryland introduced a similar bill before rescinding it months later.
  • The prospect of federal legislation enshrining a four-day workweek standard, meanwhile, is highly unlikely.

Australian companies that trialled four-day work week haven't looked back, report finds

A man in front of a lecturn with white receeding hair and a pink sunflower shirt

A report into emerging four-day work week trends in Australia has found companies that trialled the model experienced overwhelming success. 

Key points:

  • Ten Australian businesses who were trialling four-day work weeks took part in the study
  • All of the companies have continued with a four-day week, with four companies adopting the change permanently and the other six extending the trial
  • Despite reduced working hours, 70 per cent experienced an increase in productivity while the other 30 per cent said productivity remained the same

Swinburne University of Technology interviewed senior managers from 10 different Australian organisations who were trialling what is known as the 100:80:100 model.

Employees get 100 per cent of the pay for working 80 per cent of their previous hours in exchange for a commitment to maintain 100-per-cent productivity.

When asked to rate the success of the four-day work week on a scale of one to 10, employers gave an average score of 9.25.

Swinburne University of Technology Associate Professor John Hopkins told ABC Radio Melbourne  that he had never seen such positive results in more than a decade of researching flexible work arrangements.

"This was by far the most enjoyable projects I've ever worked on, just because of the enthusiasm and positivity of all the people that were saying how amazing it had been for that business," he said.

"They really wanted to share it and they wanted more people to do it."

After moving to a four-day week, 70 per cent of the companies said productivity was higher and 30 per cent said it was about the same as before.

None saw a drop in productivity.

Companies told researchers that moving to a four-day week also led to fewer sick days being taken and better employee retention and recruitment.

For employees, a four-day week meant more time for life administration, hobbies, exercise and self care.

No downsides

Melbourne software business Our Community first adopted a four-day week as part of a six-month pilot in mid-2022.

Managing director Denis Moriarty said it worked so well that after five months he adopted the change permanently.

"I can't even think of a downside," he said.

"We are now an employer of choice.

"We've reduced turnover and have 37 per cent less sick leave."

The business started the trial as part of a global pilot program , which provided companies with some training resources to help staff improve their productivity, including a module called "detoxing your diary".

This resulted in fewer meetings and each meeting took up less time.

Mr Moriarty also asked staff ideas about how the company could raise revenue and become more efficient.

After receiving 193 pages' worth of responses, Mr Moriarty said the company stopped doing things that were not essential, automated some data collection and started a new training course that has already generated about $200,000 worth of revenue.

Mr Moriarty said living and working through lengthy COVID-19 lockdowns inspired the change.

"The world changed and I changed in that time, so I felt something needed to be done to move the company forward … we wanted the company to grow," he said.

"It's been a year since we've started it and I can proudly say we are more prosperous and our employees are more prosperous."

Smaller businesses lead the way

The 10 companies that took part in the Swinburne University of Technology study were based in various states and industries, including logistics, marketing, recruitment, and consulting.

Six of the companies had fewer than 20 employees and the other four were medium-sized businesses with up to 200 employees.

"It tends to be the smaller organisations that are leading the way at the moment," Dr Hopkins said.

"Organisations were saying that they couldn't necessarily compete with bigger firms on salary, so they were competing on working conditions and offering a four-day week."

To retain or improve productivity while staff worked fewer hours, the study found companies reduced the frequency and duration of meetings as well as identifying and reducing "non essential" or "low value" work.

Dr Hopkins said four of the companies have adopted a four-day work week permanently, while the other six have extended the trial.

LIz Indrans

Instant improvements

Brunswick design agency Your Creative has also adopted a four-day week permanently after beginning a trial in August last year.

Client and operations director Liz Indrans said they saw instant results, with improved staff morale and productivity.

"I can't imagine going back," she said.

"When we started we thought there would be teething issues, there were a few but not as many as we expected."

Ms Indrans said "strategic rostering" was required to make sure the company could continue to meet clients' needs five days a week.

They have also reduced meetings and many staff do not use work email accounts so time can be spent creating.

Despite the reduced working hours, Ms Indrans said the company has continued to thrive.

"We've always been able to meet our deadlines. We are getting more work and are still able to take on new clients," she said.

"I think it's helpful for creativity too; the next day [employees] come in a bit more fresh."

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Designing a 4 Day Work Week

Designing a 4 Day Work Week

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Instructor: Andrew Barnes

The impact of the pandemic on workers is well recognized. Stress and burnout are on the rise, and working hours have risen higher than they have in years. Despite economic turmoil, a record number of workers are quitting jobs in search of more flexible opportunities. To address this critical issue, a growing number of companies are experimenting with reducing work time by offering a four-day week, without reducing pay. Research shows that shorter weeks can be a major contributor to making employees happier and more productive, and therefore businesses more profitable. In today’s tight labor market, it is a key option for companies to consider as they reinvent how we work. In this course, Andrew Barnes explains the process of designing a four-day week, from announcing the initial decision, to setting up a trial, implementing the plan, and measuring results. He also offers insider tips and tricks to overcome obstacles and common pitfalls, to set you up for success.

The Cases Against Trump: A Guide

Fraud. Hush money. Election subversion. Mar-a-Lago documents. One place to keep track of the presidential candidate’s legal troubles.

Arrows pointing at Donald Trump

Not long ago, the idea that a former president—or major-party presidential nominee—would face serious legal jeopardy was nearly unthinkable. Today, merely keeping track of the many cases against Donald Trump requires a law degree, a great deal of attention, or both.

In all, Trump faces 91 felony counts across two state courts and two different federal districts, any of which could potentially produce a prison sentence. He’s also dealing with a civil suit in New York that could force drastic changes to his business empire, including closing down its operations in his home state. Meanwhile, he is the leading Republican candidate in the race to become the next president—though the Supreme Court has now heard a case seeking to disqualify him. If the criminal and civil cases unfold with any reasonable timeliness, he could be in the heat of the campaign at the same time that his legal fate is being decided.

David A. Graham: The end of Trump Inc.

Here’s a summary of the major legal cases against Trump, including key dates, an assessment of the gravity of the charges, and expectations about how they could turn out. This guide will be updated regularly as the cases proceed.

New York State: Fraud

In the fall of 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a civil suit against Trump, his adult sons, and his former aide Allen Weisselberg, alleging a years-long scheme in which Trump fraudulently reported the value of properties in order to either lower his tax bill or improve the terms of his loans, all with an eye toward inflating his net worth.

When? Justice Arthur Engoron ruled against Trump and his co-defendants in late September 2023, concluding that many of the defendants’ claims were “clearly” fraudulent—so clearly that he didn’t need a trial to hear them. (He also sanctioned Trump’s lawyers for making repeated frivolous arguments.) Engoron has also fined Trump a total of $15,000 for violating a gag order in the case. The trial ended in January, and a ruling is currently expected in mid-February .

How grave is the allegation? Fraud is fraud, and in this case, the sum of the fraud stretched into the millions—but compared with some of the other legal matters in which Trump is embroiled, this is pretty pedestrian. The case is also civil rather than criminal. But although the stakes are lower for the nation, they remain high for Trump: Engoron could bar Trump’s famed company from business in New York, strip it of several key properties, and fine Trump hundreds of millions of dollars.

How plausible is a guilty verdict? Engoron has already ruled that Trump committed fraud. The outstanding questions are what damages he might have to pay and what exactly Engoron’s ruling means for Trump’s business and properties in New York.

Manhattan: Defamation and Sexual Assault

Although these other cases are all brought by government entities, Trump also faced a pair of defamation suits from the writer E. Jean Carroll, who said that Trump sexually assaulted her in a department-store dressing room in the 1990s. When he denied it, she sued him for defamation and later added a battery claim.

When? In May 2023, a jury concluded that Trump had sexually assaulted and defamed Carroll, and awarded her $5 million. A second defamation case produced an $83.3 million judgment in January 2024.

How grave was the allegation? Although these cases don’t directly connect to the same fundamental issues of rule of law and democratic governance that some of the criminal cases do, they were a serious matter, and a federal judge’s blunt statement that Trump raped Carroll has gone underappreciated.

What happens now? Trump has appealed both cases. During the second trial, he also continued to insult Carroll, which may have courted additional defamation suits.

Manhattan: Hush Money

In March 2023, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg became the first prosecutor to bring felony charges against Trump, alleging that the former president falsified business records as part of a scheme to pay hush money to women who said they had had sexual relationships with Trump.

When? The case is set to go to trial on March 25, Judge Juan Merchant said on February 15.

How grave is the allegation? Falsifying records is a crime, and crime is bad. But many people have analogized this case to Al Capone’s conviction on tax evasion: It’s not that he didn’t deserve it, but it wasn’t really why he was an infamous villain. That this case alleges behavior that didn’t directly attack elections or put national secrets at risk makes it feel more minor—in part because other cases have set a grossly high standard for what constitutes gravity.

How plausible is a guilty verdict? Bragg’s case faces hurdles including arguments over the statute of limitations, a questionable key witness in the former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, and some fresh legal theories. In short, the Manhattan case seems like perhaps the least significant and most tenuous criminal case. Some Trump critics were dismayed that Bragg was the first to bring criminal charges against the former president.

Department of Justice: Mar-a-Lago Documents

Jack Smith, a special counsel in the U.S. Justice Department, has charged Trump with 37 felonies in connection with his removal of documents from the White House when he left office. The charges include willful retention of national-security information, obstruction of justice, withholding of documents, and false statements. Trump took boxes of documents to properties where they were stored haphazardly, but the indictment centers on his refusal to give them back to the government despite repeated requests.

David A. Graham: This indictment is different

When? Smith filed charges in June 2023. Judge Aileen Cannon has set a trial date of May 20, 2024. In November, she rejected Trump’s request to push that back but said she would reconsider timing in March . Smith faces a de facto deadline of January 20, 2025, at which point Trump or any Republican president would likely shut down a case.

How grave is the allegation? These are, I have written, the stupidest crimes imaginable , but they are nevertheless very serious. Protecting the nation’s secrets is one of the greatest responsibilities of any public official with classified clearance, and not only did Trump put these documents at risk, but he also (allegedly) refused to comply with a subpoena, tried to hide them, and lied to the government through his attorneys.

How plausible is a guilty verdict? This may be the most open-and-shut case, and the facts and legal theory here are pretty straightforward. But Smith seems to have drawn a short straw when he was randomly assigned Cannon, a Trump appointee who has sometimes ruled favorably for Trump on procedural matters. Some legal commentators have even accused her of “ sabotaging ” the case.

Fulton County: Election Subversion

In Fulton County, Georgia, which includes most of Atlanta, District Attorney Fani Willis brought a huge racketeering case against Trump and 18 others, alleging a conspiracy that spread across weeks and states with the aim of stealing the 2020 election.

When? Willis obtained the indictment in August 2023. The number of people charged makes the case unwieldy and difficult to track. Several of them, including Kenneth Chesebro , Sidney Powell , and Jenna Ellis, struck plea deals in the fall. Willis has proposed a trial date of August 5, 2024, for the remaining defendants.

How grave is the allegation? More than any other case, this one attempts to reckon with the full breadth of the assault on democracy following the 2020 election.

How plausible is a guilty verdict? Expert views differ. This is a huge case for a local prosecutor, even in a county as large as Fulton, to bring. The racketeering law allows Willis to sweep in a great deal of material, and she has some strong evidence—such as a call in which Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” some 11,000 votes. Three major plea deals from co-defendants may also ease Willis’s path, but getting a jury to convict Trump will still be a challenge. Complicating matters, Willis is now under fire for a romantic relationship with an attorney she hired as a special prosecutor.

Department of Justice: Election Subversion

Special Counsel Smith has also charged Trump with four federal felonies in connection with his attempt to remain in power after losing the 2020 election. This case is in court in Washington, D.C.

When? A grand jury indicted Trump on August 1, 2023. The trial was originally schedule for March 4, but Judge Tanya Chutkan said in early February that the date would change, as an appeals court deliberated on Trump’s claim of absolute immunity. A three-judge panel roundly rejected that claim on February 6, but no new trial date has been announced yet. As with the other DOJ case, Smith will need to move quickly, before Trump or any other Republican president could shut down a case upon taking office in January 2025. Other tangential legal skirmishes continue: In October, after verbal attacks by Trump on witnesses and Smith’s wife, Chutkan issued an order limiting what Trump can say about the case.

David A. Graham: Trump attempted a brazen, dead-serious attack on American democracy

How grave is the allegation? This case rivals the Fulton County one in importance. It is narrower, focusing just on Trump and a few key elements of the paperwork coup , but the symbolic weight of the U.S. Justice Department prosecuting an attempt to subvert the American election system is heavy.

How plausible is a guilty verdict? It’s very hard to say. Smith avoided some of the more unconventional potential charges, including aiding insurrection, and everyone watched much of the alleged crime unfold in public in real time, but no precedent exists for a case like this, with a defendant like this.

Additionally …

In more than 30 states , cases have been filed over whether Trump should be thrown off the 2024 ballot under a novel legal theory about the Fourteenth Amendment. Proponents, including J. Michael Luttig and Laurence H. Tribe in The Atlantic , argued that the former president is ineligible to serve again under a clause that disqualifies anyone who took an oath defending the Constitution and then subsequently participated in a rebellion or an insurrection. They said that Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election and his incitement of the January 6 riot meet the criteria.

Cases were brought in many states, and state authorities issued conflicting opinions. Several states ruled against removing Trump from the ballot, but the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine secretary of state both disqualified him, ruling that he had engaged in an insurrection—a remarkable legal finding. Trump then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

When? The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case on February 8. The timing for a decision is not clear.

How grave is the allegation? In a sense, the claim made here is even graver than the criminal election-subversion cases filed against Trump by the U.S. Department of Justice and in Fulton County, Georgia, because neither of those cases alleges insurrection or rebellion. But the stakes are also much different—rather than criminal conviction, they concern the ability to serve as president.

How plausible is a disqualification? Though there is a robust debate among legal scholars on this question, the nine who matter are the ones on the Supreme Court, and they appeared very skeptical of arguments in favor of disqualification during the February 8 hearing.

DW - South Africa

Pros and cons of the four-day workweek

T here are two different models of the four-day workweek. One model envisions spreading the 40 hours commonly worked during a five-day week over four days. This means people will be working four ten-hour days.

Belgium is now allowing employees to decide between working a conventional five-day week or a shorter, more intense four-day week. The total worked number of hours is identical.

The other model differs from the typical workweek in that it envisions people getting 100% of the workload done in just 80% of the time, while still receiving their full salary. A few countries have begun trying out the four-day workweek.

Iceland, for example, tested the model between 2015 and 2019 to see how effective a shortened workweek and identical salary would be. Spain is starting a similar trial this spring for small and medium-sized companies, where 30% of employees will work 10% less while retaining their original salary. France, meanwhile, is planning to test a 35-hour workweek, spread over four days, for public administration employees.

Other countries like New Zealand, Japan and the United States are also looking into shorter workweeks. But what are the potential upsides and downsides?

Advantages of a four-day workweek

Undiminished productvity and less stress

Various pilot projects have led to positive effects. For example, a British study published in 2023 found that employees were less stressed and showed a lower risk of suffering from mental illnesses like burnout when working four-day weeks. Anxiety, fatigue and sleep problems also decreased during the pilot phase. Overall, sixty-one companies with about 2,900 employees participated in the trial. The majority of companies said they intended to keep the four-day week in place. Many cited employees' increased well-being as a main reason for this decision.

Fewer sick days

At the same time, employees working four-day weeks called in sick less often. This is because workers have sufficient time to recover and endure less stress, said occupational psychologist Hannah Schade of the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors at the Technical University of Dortmund. This finding is helpful for thinking about the financial side of the four-day week, the expert said. The number of employees away on sick leave and dealing with mental illnesses need to be factored in by companies, after all.

Boosting equality, tackling labor shortages

Beyond its health and mental health benefits, the four-day workweek could also play a role in promoting greater equality. Speaking to DW, industrial psychologist Schade said the British study also found that men doing four-day weeks were more involved in care work, for example in looking after their children or relatives in need.

The four-day week could also help remedy Germany's shortage of skilled workers, said Institute for Employment Research director Bernd Fitzenberger. A four-day week "makes jobs more attractive, increasing the number of applicants in fields where companies are desperately seeking workers," said Fitzenberger. This would enable families to better reconcile work and childcare, he added, and allow women living with their partners to more easily return to full-time work to build their careers.

Are fewer working hours good for the climate?

It's difficult to measure whether a reduction in working hours will positively impact the climate. Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie, a Leipzig-based think tank, writes on its website that a four-day week "could also reduce the energy and resources consumed by industries and though commutes." Yet it also says that employees' individual carbon footprints will depend on their respective lifestyles.

Attracting potential employees

Although it's primarily employees who want a four-day week, companies stand to benefit, too. "Every company that offers a four-day week has a competitive advantage," said industrial psychologist Schade. According to her, a four-day week with reduced working hours, rather than an identical number of hours spread over just four days, is what makes companies attractive to potential employees. "In return, people will then be willing to put up with other things," said Schade.

Disadvantages of a four-day week

More stress?

One disadvantage of the four-day week could be the tendency to squeeze more work into fewer working hours, says the economist Bernd Fitzenberger. When more has to be accomplished in less time, this causes more stress. Belgium's four-day model, for example, has employees doing 40 hours a week, spread over four days. As an alternative, they can reduce their number of working hours, which translates into less pay.

Productivity difficult to measure

The business community is also skeptical of the four-day week. Among other things, this is due to the challenge of measuring productivity, said Holger Schäfer, a researcher at Cologne's German Economic Institute (IW). The IW says it is difficult to ascertain exactly how the four-day week will influence companies' productivity.

The four-day week could also translate into higher costs for companies, said Fitzenberger. This, he says, could be the case "when reduced working hours or spreading working hours over just four days is not offset by productivity gains".

Diminshed competitiveness?

Germany's business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP) worries that shorter working weeks will harm industrial competitiveness. "In view of the glaring shortage of skilled workers, proposing a four-day week is incomprehensible," FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr told Funke Mediengruppe newspapers.

According to the economist Fitzenberger, however, this problem could be offset by companies making workflows more productive by introducing technological innovations. He does, however, wonder to which extent a four-day week will suit different industries.

Four-day week unsuitable to all industries

Some industries' schedules would also pose challenges for a four-day week.

"It becomes challenging in fields where services have to be provided in the here and now, at fixed times, for customers, or people who are being cared for," said Fitzenberger. A four-day week will therefore be more difficult to implement in nursing, when working for security services or transportation companies, he added. "If we were to rigidly implement a such a regulation across all industries in the same way, it could hurt competitiveness."

Change of perspective

The four-day week must be viewed from a long-term perspective, said occupational psychologist Schade. This is because fewer employees on sick leave will positively affect the economy further down the road, the expert said. Additionally, Schade said, it will take time for employees and companies to adjust to this new way of working. She admitted that "change always also entails risk," which triggers fears. But judging by a German survey from 2022, which found that three-quarters of respondents would welcome a four-day week at their companies, it is certainly popular. Employees younger than 40 are particularly interested in this model.

This article was translated from German.

Author: Silja Thoms

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