A four-day working week – with no reduction in pay – can have a positive impact on workers’ mental and physical health.
According to a study by researchers from the US and Ireland published in the Nature Human Behaviour journal, employees were able to maintain their normal output because their working environment improved, but also enjoyed better sleep and less fatigue.
The researchers organised a six-month trial involving 141 organisations in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the US, covering almost 2,900 employees.
Four-day week
They found that both company-level and individual-level reductions in hours correlated with wellbeing gains. The conclusion – that “income-preserving four-day work weeks” are an effective intervention to enhance workforce wellbeing.
Wen Fan, associate professor of sociology at Boston College and lead author, said: “When workers want to deliver the same productivity, they might work very rapidly to get the job done, and their wellbeing might actually worsen. But that’s not what we found.”
Before shifting to reduced hours, the companies involved in the trial were given eight weeks to restructure their workflow so they could maintain productivity at 80% of hours.
Prior to beginning, employees were asked to answer a series of questions such as “Does your work frustrate you?” and how they felt about their mental health. The same questions were asked at the end of the trial.
Before and after the six-month experiment, employee wellbeing was evaluated against four benchmarks: burnout, job satisfaction, overall psychological wellbeing and physical health.
The sample was also compared against 285 employees in 12 companies that did not have a reduced working week.
Employees in all groups that had hours reduced experienced health benefits including higher job satisfaction and reduced feelings of burnout. Those whose work hours were reduced by eight hours saw the largest benefits.
Researchers noted that one of the limitations of the research was that all participants volunteered, and were often employees of small businesses in English-speaking countries, so the sample was less randomised than they would have liked.
Wen also noted that reducing work weeks and commuting hours would have positive outcomes for the environment. Nine in 10 companies involved signed up to continue a four-day week after the trial ended.
A recent pilot in the UK, led by the 4 Day Week Foundation, also concluded with all 17 companies that participated continuing to work on the same basis.
Almost two-thirds of the 1,000 workers involved said they had experienced reduced burnout, while two in five felt an improvement in their mental health, and almost half said they felt more satisfied with life.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
HR business partner opportunities on Personnel Today
Browse more HR business partner jobs
