Four-day week trial confirms: Working less increases wellbeing
The four-day week movement is booming in popularity after the pandemic had a profound impact on people’s ideas of work-life balance, as well as a wider shift towards flexible working.
The largest ever trial of the four-day working week spanning six countries, 33 companies and 903 employees has ended and the results are in. Orchestrated by 4 Day Week Global, the six-month trial was evaluated by independent academic researchers at Boston College, University College Dublin and Cambridge University.
The question this global trial asked was: Could a shorter working week improve employee wellbeing, be better for the environment, improve productivity, and even, make the company more money?
Here’s what they found:
- - 70 percent of people who took part in the trial said that their next job would have to pay them 10 to 50 per cent more, if it demanded they work five days a week.
- - For 1 in 8, no amount of money would persuade them to go back to working five days.
- - For 2 in 3 of the companies have decided to keep to a four-day working week. And the others are planning to do so.
- - On average, the companies generated 8 per cent more revenue by the end of the trial.
- - Compared to the same 6 months the year before, revenue was up a staggering 38 per cent.
- - 2/3 of employees reported they were less burned-out, though interestingly 16 per cent of workers did say their stress levels increased.