A government-funded trial of a four-day working week in Portugal found that almost all employers that took part rated the experience positively.
Employers saw improvements in employee mental health and wellbeing and a reduction in the number of staff struggling to balance work with family commitments after trialling a shorter work week with no loss of pay.
Forty-one Portuguese companies took part in the project, 21 of which coordinated the start of a six-month trial in June.
One thousand employees had their work week shortened while keeping the same salary. In 58.5% of the companies, workers had one extra day off per week, while the remaining 41.5% opted for a nine-day fortnight.
Within three months, the proportion of workers reporting mental health challenges had reduced. The number reporting feelings of anxiety dropped by 21%, and those struggling to balance work and family responsibilities fell from 46% to 8%.
Employees reporting fatigue fell by 23% and there was a 19% reduction in the number of people with insomnia or sleep problems.
Portugal four-day week trial
Does the four-day week align with flexibility and skills priorities?
After four months, the organisations rated the overall trial an average of 7.7/10.
The pilot was run by the Portuguese government in partnership with non-profit firm 4 Day Week Global. The results were monitored by Birkbeck, University of London and Henley Business School.
Dr Pedro Gomes, professor in economics at Birkbeck, University of London, said: “This pilot has shown us that the four-day week, however radical it might look for some, is a legitimate management practice with many benefits for firms and workers.
“We hope our work documenting how companies in Portugal designed a test that positively impacted workers can encourage and help other companies considering a four-day week.”
Dr Rita Fontinha, associate professor of strategic HR at Henley Business School, said the results showed that a four-day week could be a potential solution for issues including recruitment and retention, stress and burnout, gender inequality, absenteeism, and difficulties in managing hybrid working.
However, CEO of 4 Day Week Global, Dr Dale Whelehan, said the companies involved in the trial did not reduce their working hours as much as those involved in similar pilots conducted in other countries.
Whelehan said: “While there were significant improvements in workers’ wellbeing, it’s interesting to note that there wasn’t as significant a reduction in hours as we have seen elsewhere. This may be because we only saw three in four companies make organisational changes to achieve the same level of output in less time. Nevertheless, this is an important first step and we know the longer a company operates a four-day week, the more their hours reduce.”
A trial involving 61 UK employers last year resulted in improvements in feelings of burnout, anxiety and fatigue, as well as a reduction in sickness absence.
Portugal’s labour minister Ana Mendes Godinho said: “The results of the pilot project show that we are on the right track. I’m proud that Portugal is already making great progress in creating new ways of organising work, with the implementation of the Decent Work Agenda, which promotes work as a factor in valuing people, essential for attracting and retaining talent in our country.”
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