Why a Four-Day Workweek Helps Workers — and the Environment

A team of sociologists in the U.S. and Ireland found that moving to a four-day workweek improves quality of life for employees and managers — and helps the environment.

The shorter week helped both mental and physical health and also boosted productivity, the researchers found.

Before the study began, researchers agreed not to cut participants’ pay even though they worked fewer days, since pay cuts could cause stress.

“We are witnessing global trends (not only in high-income countries but also in many low- and middle-income nations) where workers are struggling with burnout, long hours, and a lack of time for themselves and their families,” said Wen Fan, the lead author of the study, in an interview with BBC Science Focus.

She said participants maintained — and in some cases increased — productivity, had fewer sleep problems, and reported less fatigue.

She also said a four-day workweek could prompt researchers to rethink “how to properly reorganize the work system so that both employees and society benefit.”

How Was the Research Conducted?

Sociologists from institutions in Boston and Dublin ran a six-month experiment with about 3,000 employees at 141 organizations across Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Participants were split into groups that reduced weekly hours by one to four, five to seven, or about eight hours (roughly up to a four-day week).

Before and after the experiment, sociologists assessed employee well-being across four categories: burnout, job satisfaction, mental health, and physical health (a key factor in mortality).

Researchers compared survey results with data from 285 employees at 12 companies that did not adopt a reduced workweek.

Employees from all three groups working under the reduced schedule showed significant improvements in overall health, a decrease in burnout levels, and greater job satisfaction.

Ninety percent of participating companies adopted the four-day workweek after the study ended.

At the same time, researchers examined environmental impacts of a shorter week. Some employees volunteered to track their carbon footprints.

The team says a shorter workweek could benefit the environment, for example by reducing pollution from commuting. Wen Fan emphasized, “Countries that have implemented shorter workweeks or shorter workdays tend to show the best environmental performance.” The results of the study were published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

Around the world, research teams are running trials to see how reduced hours affect health and productivity. They’re testing scenarios like six-hour days or a 20 percent cut in hours. One big recent study, the 4 Day Week Global (4DWG) project with 375 companies, also found benefits from cutting work hours.