The 4-Day Workweek and Examining the Future of Work

“Should my company move to a four-day workweek?”

That’s the question on the minds of a lot more business leaders these days—maybe yours included.

Just a few years ago, many of us could never have imagined the far-reaching societal impacts and shifts that have happened in the wake of the pandemic. A re-evaluation of what’s important in life was a common side effect. And for many of us, that included examining the balance—or lack thereof—between our working lives and our personal lives.

Experiencing the flexibility of mandated remote work left a lot of people wondering how they ever endured a daily commute or the rigid structure of the traditional in-office workweek. So even though the world is returning to a more ‘normal’ state, the future of work is forever changed for a lot of us.

Nine in 10 remote-capable employees want some level of remote-work flexibility moving forward, according to recent data from analytics and advisory company Gallup. If they don’t get it? More than half (54%) of those currently working from home and 38% of hybrid workers said they’ll look for another job.

And of course, work location isn’t the only topic that’s been discussed more over the past few years. As mentioned, the five-day workweek is also sitting under the microscope.

And more companies are beginning to examine whether greater flexibility in this area could have strong benefits on both sides of the employee-employer relationship.

Is the future of work looking more flexible?

Apparently so, and it’s estimated the predicted boom in flexible working could contribute more than $10 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

The history of the 4-day workweek

When we think of the average modern workweek, the nine-to-five, five-days-a-week model is what comes to mind for most of us. After all, it has been the dominant work model in America—and many other places too—for the better part of a century. And it has pretty well ingrained itself into our culture.

But this model is an entirely man-made construct. And believe it or not, it can be deconstructed.

Early 1900s International Time Recording Canada Factory Punch Clock

While the 40-hour workweek seems normal now, the amount of time we spend in work has evolved dramatically through history. In fact, the five-day, 40-hour workweek was a triumphant win of the 20th century when you compare it to the typical six-day, 60 to 100-hour workweek of the 19th century.

Workers demanded better for themselves, and they got it.

• Back in 1866, a coalition of workers organized to form the National Labor Union . The group called on Congress to mandate an eight-hour workday. While their efforts were unsuccessful and the Union dissolved by 1873, awareness and support for labor reform began to build.
• Twenty years later in 1886, workers across the U.S. held a national strike for the eight-hour work day. A Chicago-based rally in support of the movement ended with a bombing in Haymarket Square, leading to the event being referred to as the Haymarket Affair .
• And 30 years after that in 1916, the Supreme Court approved the Adamson Act . This granted an eight-hour workday for railroad workers—which served to avoid a railroad strike.
• By 1926, Ford Motor Company factory workers were granted a 40-hour workweek, making the company one of the first in America to adopt this model. Henry Ford’s son and the company’s then-president Edsel Ford explained the following in an article published in The New York Times:
  “Every man needs more than one day a week for rest and recreation….The Ford Company always has sought to promote [an] ideal home life for its employees. We believe that in order to live properly every man should have more time to spend with his family.”
• In 1938 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act limiting the workweek to 44 hours, and then 40 hours by 1940.

That brief historical timeline is just a snapshot from the U.S. labor market. And of course, a lot happened in terms of incremental labor rights movements in different parts of the world, in between those events and since then, from wage and equal pay standards to discrimination and leave rights.

But not much has changed with regard to the 40-hour workweek.

“The time we spend in work is neither natural nor inevitable,” said research organization Autonomy in its 2019 report , The Shorter Working Week: A Radical And Pragmatic Proposal.

Especially considering the kind of work future that was predicted for us many years ago.

Future of work predictions versus reality

Let’s jump back in time to 1930.

A new home would have cost you around $6,000. A new car, $600. And gas for that car would have rang in at around just 10 cents a gallon. Can you imagine?

That year, economist John Maynard Keynes famously predicted advancements in technology would mean we’d all be working just 15 hours a week. And evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley predicted we’d whittle down to a two-day workweek.

"The human being can consume so much and no more," said Huxley. "When we reach the point when the world produces all the goods that it needs in two days, as it inevitably will, we must curtail our production of goods and turn our attention to the great problem of what to do with our new leisure."

So what happened to all that promised leisure time?

As it turns out, there was no ceiling to how many goods we could produce or consume. So the more productive we became—and we did become more productive with all our advancements in technology—the more stuff we decided we needed to buy.

We’re also largely stuck in the concept of synchronous work, or working together in real-time. A century ago, we needed to be in the same place and work at the same time to be productive. There was no alternative. Now, we're increasingly separating the physical location from work—but not yet the schedule. But how can work truly be flexible when team members are forced to work within the same time window each day, regardless of differences in lifestyles, personal responsibilities and periods of peak performance?

As more and more companies test out methods of work flexibility like a shortened workweek—and more and more case studies prove the undeniable benefits—perhaps it’s only a matter of time before there’s another big change to the future of work.

The 4-day workweek: who’s really doing it?

In May 2020, Buffer publicly announced the start of its four-day workweek trial with an open letter from CEO and co-founder Joel Gascoigne.

“This 4-day workweek period is about well-being, mental health, and placing us as humans and our families first,” he stated.

The trial was intended to run for one month, which got extended to the end of 2020, and subsequently is still running today.

In a recent survey of how it’s all going, the company reported 73% of its employees are only working four days a week, or alternately five shortened days. And 91% said they’re happier and more productive working this way.

Years before that, Basecamp started offering its employees four-day Summer Workweeks. From May 1 to August 31, they by-and-large work a Monday to Thursday, eight-hour work schedule. And for the rest of the year, employees are encouraged to work no more than 40 hours.

Companies like Panasonic , Bolt and Kickstarter have also announced shortened workweek trials. And if you want to check out a more extensive list of companies testing out and permanently committing to more flexible work schedules, hop over here .

On a larger scale, we touched on Automony’s report earlier. This organization—along with the Association for Sustainable Democracy—was involved in analyzing a shortened workweek trial run by Reykjavik City and the Icelandic government between 2015-2019.

The results of the trials were overwhelmingly positive and made huge waves on the global stage. They also resulted in significant change, as 86% of the country’s population now have reduced hours or have gained the right to shorten their hours.

Many other countries are also piloting a shortened workweek—or are at least announcing their intentions to do so—including Spain , Scotland , Belgium and even Japan —a country famous for its more rigid work-culture. The Japanese term Karōshi literally means ‘overwork death’.

In a study released in 2021 by the World Health Organization, it was found that 488 million people were exposed to the risks of working long hours in 2016. Additionally, more than 745,000 people died because of overwork.

With so many people repositioning the weight and importance of work on their lives and sense of self, the time for change may be now.

The real benefits of the 4-day workweek

It’s clear lots of companies and even countries are getting on the 4 day workweek bandwagon. But why?

Sure, it looks great from a PR and hiring perspective—an indisputable positive during a time when employees definitely have the upper-hand in the job market. According to recent data from employment marketplace ZipRecruiter, job postings that offer a four-day workweek get 15% more applications than other postings in the same industry.

But are there productivity benefits to be found in working less?

According to a 2019 whitepaper by the Henley Business School entitled ‘Four Better or Four Worse’, nearly two thirds (64%) of UK businesses that have adopted the four-day workweek have seen productivity not only remain consistent but actually improve.

Back in 2018, Andrew Barnes, founder of New Zealand-based estate planning business Perpetual Guardian, started offering his employees one paid day off per week. The results of his trial showed an increase in leadership, commitment, stimulation and empowerment from employees.

Barnes has become one of the biggest supporters of the four-day workweek, authoring a book titled ‘the Four Day Work Week’ and even started 4 Day Week —a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the movement.

According to its findings, “78% of employees with 4 day work weeks are happier and less stressed”.

Amid the onset of the pandemic, Gallup also surveyed more than 10,000 full-time employees on issues related to work and wellbeing. Here’s what Gallup found:

• Of those surveyed, 84% worked 5 days a week, 11% worked 6 days a week, and 5% worked 4 days a week.
• 38% of employees working 6 days a week said they feel burnt out often or always.
• By comparison, 26% of employees on a 5 day workweek and just 23% of those on a 4 day workweek said the same.

And beyond all the productivity and wellbeing benefits, there are also a whole host of environmental benefits that can be realized when the workweek gets more flexible—whether that’s fewer days spent working or greater support for a remote workforce .

When Microsoft Japan tested out a 4 day workweek trial, it not only saw productivity jump by 40% , but also the office’s electricity use dropped by 23% and its paper printing declined by 59%.

How will the 4-day workweek fit into the future of work?

The ways we work have changed so much, from the industrial revolution to the digital revolution. There have been continual efforts to boost our productivity, or at least do the same things with more automation and less manual effort.

Yet the five-day workweek remains.

Old habits are hard to break though—especially when they’re fairly universal. So even though countless trials and studies have clearly proven less is more when it comes to the standard workweek, it could take some time before we see sweeping change across the working world.

But if the situation shown by the statistics and examples above continues, it may only be a matter of time before we forget a five-day workweek was ever even a thing.