The 4-Day Work Week: Pros & Cons

Shorter working weeks — just a fad or the future of work? In this article, we delve into the pros and cons of the four-day week.

The Case for a 4-Day Work Week

In recent years, there have been increased calls from workers around the world for a four-day work week. Several weeks ago, we at Berkley conducted our own social media poll asking for people’s opinions on the matter. In our survey, a whopping 83% of respondents stated that they were in favour of a four-day working week.

In response to the growing demand for shorter working hours, the Irish Government has invited academics to submit proposals about how a four-day work week could operate in Ireland. This has coincided with a new six-month pilot programme from Four Day Week Ireland that will provide participating employers with supports, training and mentoring on how to ensure a smooth roll-out.

How Does the Four-Day Week Work?

One option is to work compressed hours. This involves working the same number of hours over a shorter period of time. However, the employee typically has more flexibility around when they work.

Another model is to offer reduced hours for the same pay. In this scenario, the employee would work 28 hours over four days. They may be offered a three-day weekend or a two-day weekend and a further day off midweek.

History of the Working Week

Did you know? The first recorded use of the word “weekend” was in the British magazine Notes and Queries in 1879.

The model of a five-day work week followed by a two-day weekend was first introduced in early 19th century Britain. By 1908, this model travelled to America to permit Jewish mill workers to take off the Sabbath from sundown to sundown on Friday and Saturday. In 1926, Henry Ford made history by shutting down all Ford factories on Saturdays and Sundays without reducing employees’ pay.

“Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest and eight hours for what you will.” ~ The Eight-Hour Day movement slogan

In 1940, a provision of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act in the US brought in a maximum workweek of 40 hours. Over the following twenty years, many countries adopted similar models to harmonise with international markets. As of 2021, the majority of countries now have a 40-hour work week.

Over the past century, there were several high-profile advocates for a shorter working week. In 1930, the famous economist JM Keynes predicted that advances in technology would lead to a 15-hour working week within 100 years. In 1956, the then US Vice President Richard Nixon anticipated a four-day week “in the not too distant future.” In 1998, the French government introduced the “Aubry” legislation that shortened the national work week down from 39 to 35 hours.

Over the past decade, technological advances have enabled organisations to streamline and automate many key tasks and processes. Advocates for the four-day week argue that this technology allows many organisations to maintain similar, if not higher, levels of productivity by allowing employees to focus on outputs rather than the number of hours spent at work.

COVID & The Four-Day Work Week

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has triggered more conversation about the feasibility of a four-day working week. Numerous governments are looking into reduced working hours as a way of “sharing work more equally across the economy between the unemployed and the over-employed” (Source: Silicon Republic). This would benefit the many overworked and burnt-out remote workers who have increased their working hours since starting to work from home. While also helping out those whose employment has been negatively affected by the pandemic.

What’s more, the rapid change to remote working models brought about by the pandemic has revealed that is easier than previously thought to bring about a massive paradigm shift in modern working structures. The pandemic has also highlighted the benefits of more flexible working models. Having had a taste of more flexible working models, many employees in 2021 are reevaluating how they balance their work and home lives.

Case Studies

Perpetual Guardian, New Zealand

In 2018, a New Zealand based estate planning firm called Perpetual Guardian trialled a four-day work week for a period of six weeks for its 250 staff. The trial was monitored and evaluated by academics at the University of Auckland Business School and the Auckland University of Technology.

According to Andrew Haar, one of the researchers working on the project, “Supervisors said staff were more creative, their attendance was better, they were on time, and they didn’t leave early or take long breaks… Their actual job performance didn’t change when doing it over four days instead of five.” There was a 24% improvement in the number of employees who said they could effectively balance their work and home life. Employees also reported less stress with a decrease of 45% to 38%. There were also clear improvements in job satisfaction, teamwork, work-life balance and company loyalty.

Microsoft, Japan

In August 2019, Microsoft Japan launched the “Work-Life Choice Challenge Summer 2019” initiative. Under this new programme, their entire 2,300-person workforce would receive five Fridays off in a row without decreasing pay. Explaining the concept, Microsoft Japan president and CEO Takuya Hirano wrote: “Work a short time, rest well and learn a lot.” Following the experiment, 92% of employees said they liked the shorter week. In addition to boosting staff morale, the trial also led to a 40% bump in productivity. There were also environmental benefits, for example, electricity costs fell by 23% and the company printed 59% fewer pages.

ICE Group, Galway

Closer to home, the ICE Group in Galway introduced a four day work week in 2019 . Under the new system, employees work from Monday to Thursday or Tuesday to Friday with no loss of pay. While the working day is slightly longer, there is an overall reduction in the working week. Since introducing the four day week, the company has seen many positive results, including:

• 12% decrease in costs
• 30% increase in sales
• 27% increase in productivity.
• 30% improvement in employee engagement and wellness ratings

Pros of the Four-Day Week

Productivity

The theory underlying the four-day work week is that fewer working hours will lead to happier employees who are more engaged, focused and productive at work. It ties in with the idea of diminishing returns i.e. after an employee has worked over a certain number of hours they actually become less productive due to stress, burn-out and fatigue. Data from Stanford University backs this up and reveals that overworked employees are less productive than employees working an average working week.

Gender Equality

The mass adoption of a four-day working week may also help to promote greater gender equality in the workplace. A 2021 study from IBEC found that the pandemic has widened the caregiving gap between working men and women in Ireland. According to their research, 48% of respondents said that more women than men had requested changes to their working patterns to facilitate caring responsibilities during the pandemic. The introduction of a four-day work week would help to mitigate the “motherhood penalty” by making it easier for professionals to juggle care and work commitments.

Environment

Implementing a four-day work week would enable organisations to significantly reduce their carbon footprint. It would take cars off the road as employees would not need to commute as much. One study estimates that introducing a four-day week in Britain could take up to 27 million cars off the road. Closing the office for one extra day in the week would also lower energy consumption and waste production. One UK study found that a 32-hour work week could help fight climate change by reducing emissions by more than 20%.

Employee Morale

A shorter working week has been shown to result in greater staff morale, increased loyalty and higher retention rates. A shorter work week fosters a better work-life balance which in turn helps employees to feel more engaged in their work. It has also been shown to improve employee mental health and physical wellness by warding off burnout and giving employees more time to spend on healthy activities.

Cons of the Four-Day Week

Unsuitable for Every Organisation

A four-day work week simply isn’t feasible for many sectors e.g. education, hospitality or manufacturing. Many organisations have no choice but to work five days a week in order to maintain their workload. For this reason, four-day work weeks are only a do-able option for businesses that have the ability to reshape their working structure.

Difficulty of Collaboration

Following on from the previous point, organisations working off differing schedules may struggle to collaborate effectively. In today’s competitive landscape, many clients and customers will likely choose to work with a company that is available during the same working hours as their own employees.

The Risk is Expensive

Experimenting with the four-day week might require a costly investment from employers. For example, they may need to take on additional staff to make up for the shortfall in hours. A two-year trial in Gothenburg, Sweden experimented with reducing a 40-hour week to 30 hours while continuing a five-day structure. While employees showed greater satisfaction, the trial was deemed to be too expensive to roll out across the wider municipality. But it is not all pluses. Daniel Bernmar, a Gothenburg City Councillor explained why these costs were prohibitively high: “Overall, hiring more people drives costs up by 20 or 30% for the local authorities. But in the long run, it drives down collateral costs associated with unemployment and healthcare by 15%.”