A four-day working week trial has proven that working less boosts productivity and well-being

We've all heard that less is more, but it seems the old adage really might be true when it comes to the structure of our working week. The results are in from a trial of a four-day working week, and you’re definitely going to want to show them to your boss.

Operated by non-profit 4-Day Week Global, the trial saw more than 30 companies comprising almost 1000 employees in countries including Australia, the US, and Ireland, conduct a six-month-long trial of a work schedule in which they clocked off a whole day early each week.

During the trial, employees were still paid 100 per cent of their salaries despite working 80 per cent of the standard time—but still confirmed that they would fit their usual five-day efforts into the shorter timeframe. And the results speak for themselves: Companies rated the experience a nine out of 10, reporting they saw revenue increasing by more than one percentage point per month, with a total rise of eight per cent over the course of the trial—a 38 per cent increase year-on-year for the same period. There were also fewer resignations, and less sick and personal leave was taken by employees.

And to nobody’s surprise, employees were even more thrilled with the experience, with 97 per cent saying they’d like to continue with their four-day structure. In fact, 70 per cent of them said a new job would have to offer them 10 to 50 per cent more to go back to a five-day week, and more than 10 per cent of respondents said they’d never go back to the old way, regardless of money.

It’s likely this level of satisfaction has a lot to do not only with the fact that they were equally (if not more) productive, as revenue reports proved, but even more with the well-being and health benefits of the trial.

“A wide range of well-being metrics showed significant improvement, including stress levels, burnout, fatigue and work-family conflict. Physical and mental health also improved, alongside satisfaction across multiple domains of life which may be linked to people getting better sleep and more exercise,” said Associate Professor Wen Fan of Boston College.

It’s not only your standard nine-to-five office job that can reap the rewards of the four-day week, though. Between 2015 and 2019, Iceland trialled reduced work hours in a scheme that included hospitals, schools and social service workers, and declared it an “overwhelming success”. The reduced hours have since been rolled out across 86 per cent off the country’s workforce—without decreasing pay.

So in a post-girl boss age of quiet quitting and hybrid working, when we’re opening up conversations of work-life balance more than ever before, perhaps this is the next step—in which case, I’m logging off, chat tomorrow.

This piece originally appeared in Harper's Bazaar Australia