These 61 companies tried out a 4-day workweek — and most are sticking with it

This is according to the final results of a study of how 61 U.K. companies and their approximately 2,900 workers fared with a compressed workweek between June and December 2022. The study was carried out by 4 Day Week Global, a nonprofit that supports the idea of a shorter workweek.

Companies scored the experience at 8.5 out of 10, while revenue increased 1.4% on average during the trial. Compared with similar points one year earlier, revenue increased 35% on average.

A four-day workweek was once a fringe idea, but it is gaining traction. During the 2022 World Economic Forum, there was a panel discussion about the shorter workweek, along with a supplementary post about how a four-day workweek did not reduce productivity and may even increase it.

In the past, U.S.-based companies including Microsoft
MSFT,
-2.09%
and Shake Shack 
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+0.73%
have experimented with a four-day workweek for salaried employees with some success. In a test conducted in 2019, Microsoft said productivity jumped 40% when employees worked four days a week, but the company did not subsequently implement a permanent four-day workweek.

A large majority of participating businesses — 92% — said they planned to continue with the four-day workweek, researchers noted. Two of the other five businesses are extending the trial run, while the other three are stopping for now.

Reducing burnout

In the study, more than half of workers said the four-day workweek increased their ability to do their job, and 71% said it reduced burnout. Around 40% said they felt less stressed and had improved mental health, and 54% experienced fewer negative emotions.

“Overall satisfaction with work and life is higher, with employees reporting lower rates of burnout and better physical and mental health. People also have fewer problems with sleep and are exercising more,” said the report, which was based on data from researchers at Boston College and Cambridge University.

Early data on the U.K. trial run showed widespread popularity. At the time, almost half of businesses said productivity was the same, while one-third said there was a slight improvement, and 15% saw a more marked improvement.

4 Day Week Global said it has studied 91 companies and around 3,500 workers — which includes the 61 companies from the most recent study — that have tried the compressed week. Researchers will have more findings from other parts of the world in the coming weeks and months.

The question remains: How many more companies will go along with the idea? Late last year, 40% of surveyed companies said they were either starting a four-day week or thinking about using one, according to EY’s Future Workplace Index.

The findings — arriving as many American workers start their own holiday-compressed workweek after Presidents Day — add to the debate on what office life should be like.

There’s still the ongoing push and pull on how many days bosses expect their staff to be physically present in the office. Remote work on a mass scale started as a white-collar contingency plan during the pandemic.

As the worst days of the pandemic recede, remote-work expectations have stuck around as an important part of the equation in the work-life balance.

Approximately one quarter of new job postings last month were advertised as remote, down from 32% in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the global staffing firm Robert Half International
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-2.96%.
Two-thirds of polled workers said the absence of a commute was the best part of remote work, and 45% said the top feature was better morale and work-life balance.

In a recent episode of its Best New Ideas in Money podcast, MarketWatch examined whether the U.S. might ever really get a four-day workweek.

Weston Blasi contributed to this report.