The first large-scale study of the four-day workweek has come to a surprising close: None of the 33 participating companies are reverting to the standard five-day schedule.
The first large-scale study of the four-day work week has come to a surprising close: None of the 33 participating companies are reverting to the standard five-day schedule. Data released this week showed organizations registered gains in revenue and employee productivity, as well as declines in absenteeism and turnover. Employees working on a four-day schedule also had a higher tendency to work from the office than from home.
"This is important because the two-day weekend is not working for people," said lead researcher Juliet Shore, an economist and sociologist at Boston College who partnered with counterparts at University College Dublin and the University of Cambridge. “In many countries, we have a working week which was established in 1938, and it does not match with contemporary life. It is important for the welfare of people who have jobs that we change the structure of the working week. address."
The study is the first of a series of pilots coordinated by New Zealand-based nonprofit advocacy group 4 Day Week Global and involving dozens of companies in ongoing six-month pilots. A US and Canadian trial began last month, and a pilot involving mostly European and South African organizations began in February. Initial data was collected from businesses and organizations in the US, Ireland and Australia, tracking 969 employees over a 10-month period as they reduced their work week by an average of six hours without any change in pay. They vary from a restaurant chain in the southwest US to an Ohio-based custom RV builder to a climate non-profit in Dublin.
Dozens of indicators, from productivity to wellness to fatigue, all improved as companies made the transition. The findings come at a time when businesses and their employees are struggling to recover from the pandemic with high rates of burnout, stress and fatigue.
Organizational performance measures were robust. Revenue grew nearly 8% during the trial and was up 38% from a year ago, indicating healthy growth through the transition. Although multi-company measures of productivity are difficult, organizations rated the four-day program's impact as positive, averaging 7.7 on a 10-point scale. Employee absenteeism decreased from 0.6 days to 0.4 in the month, while resignations declined marginally and new hires increased slightly. Companies have given a 9 out of 10 rating to the overall experience.
"We've certainly seen a much higher engagement level among employees than we've ever recorded," said John Leland, chief strategy officer at crowd-funding company Kickstarter. It has 100 or more employees. “We also have very high retention, as well as fast and easy recruiting, which are probably the three most influential factors on our overall productivity.” Leland said that Kickstarter employees are more committed to staying longer with the new schedule, and that as an executive who needs to work more than four days, he should be able to do office-related work in three-day breaks. Some tasks seem very easy to do. ,
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