10 reasons why the 4 Day Work Week is good for the world

The 4 day work week isn’t just about having an extra day off every week.

If you ask someone if they wanted to move to a 4 day work week, chances are they would say yes. Here are ten reasons why the 4 day work week is good for society, the future of work and the world we live in.

1. The 4 day week is good for business

The 4 day week creates great teams

A reduced working week can help you to attract the best talent and retain them for longer, cutting down on money spent on recruitment. Employees become more valuable to a company over time due to their growing tribal knowledge so keeping an employee with the perk of a 4 day work week can greatly benefit your business.

The 4 day week increases output

Our research shows that profits increased in organizations who trialed a 4 day work week, sometimes by up to 35%. Past trial participants also found that they cut down on other overheads such as electricity.

Sick leave and absenteeism fell drastically for those who worked a 4 day week, with some organizations seeing little to no sick leave since introducing the policy.

Productivity was perhaps the most significant increase seen in organizations who trialed a 4 day work week with 20 to 40% increases being reported by participating businesses.

2. The 4 day week is good for the environment

The 4 day work week reduces our carbon footprint by cutting down on our time spent commuting and using energy resources. Research has shown that people were more likely to spend time in nature on their days off when they worked 20% less time.

The 4 day work week’s impact on our carbon footprint

The 4 day work week reduces commuting time by a fifth on average. A report by Autonomy, a UK think tank, suggests that a shorter work week could reduce the UK's carbon footprint by up to 127 million tonnes by 2025, roughly equivalent to taking 27 million cars off the road.

The 4 day week improves air quality

A 4 day work week experiment in Spain discovered that the nitrous oxide in the air fell by 58% when full-time participants worked one less day per week.

3. The 4 day week improves employee engagement

In our post-covid world of work, employers are struggling to maintain their employees’ engagement following a remote work and quiet quitting revolution. The usual approaches are no longer working.

The 4 day week boosts employee moral and job satisfaction

59% of participants reported that they were more satisfied with their time as a result of the 4 day work week trial during the South Africa pilot. One manager said that, “morale was at an all time high” during the 4 day week trial in their company.

The 4 day week fosters a culture of trust among staff

The Perpetual Guardian whitepaper on the 4 day work week outlines the benefit of trust in flexible workplaces.

Professor Haar, who conducted the quantitative analysis of the 4 day week at Perpetual Guardian notes that employees trust in management went up significantly through the trial. This likely reflects the way that management’s decision to trial the 4 day week shows a fundamental trust in employees.

Interested in introducing reduced working hours into your business?

Book in time to speak with our Programs Manager, Victoria S. , who can help answer all of your burning questions. We offer a range of services to help you wherever you are on your 4 day work week journey.

4. The 4 day week improves mental health

The 4 day work week could be the most powerful workplace well-being tool around.

The 4 day week helps your employees mental well-being

The 4 day week is a powerful opportunity to improve the health and well-being of your employees. Have a look at this data reported by 4 day week pilot program participants:

• Two thirds of employees reported less burnout
• 33% reported decrease in work-related stress
• 33% reported decrease in anxiety
• 38% increase in mental health
• Two thirds experienced an increase in frequency of positive emotions
• Over half experienced a decrease in frequency of negative emotions

5. The 4 day week improves your sleep

With a reduction in negative mental health and negative well-being impacts in employees’ lives, the 4 day week therefore has a knock-on effect on their sleep-time and quality.

How the 4 day week impacts your sleep

In a UK survey conducted in April 2023, it was found that employees who were part of the 4 day work week trial reported significant improvements in their sleep patterns. Specifically, they reported sleeping half an hour to an hour more per night.

This suggests that the additional day off provided by the 4 day work week allowed employees to better manage their sleep schedules and get more rest.

Additionally, 40% of the employees saw a reduction in sleep difficulties, further highlighting the potential benefits of a 4 day work week on sleep quality.

Why does the 4 day week improve sleep?

As employees are now less stressed and have a greater work-life balance, they are ready to rest better at night. Hence they not only catch more z’s, but also have a better quality of sleep.

6. The 4 day week supports gender equality

The 4 day work week benefits working mothers the most. Here’s why:

Why the 4 day week is good for gender equality

We ran a trial which spanned six different countries and 33 companies from different industries. In this trial we found that men contributed more to housework and childcare duties than before the trial.

The men who worked a 4 day week reported spending 22% more time on childcare and 23% more time on housework.

As well as that, it was reported that burnout, stress and anxiety reduced more for the women than the men during the trial. In fact, women are twice as likely to experience burnout than men.

How the 4 day week supports working women

The 4 day week reduces the stigma associated with toxic masculinity and long working hours by normalizing a 32-hour working week for all. This allows working parents to dedicate the time they need to balancing home and work life.

7. The 4 day week is good for your physical health

Benefitting from the extra hour of sleep every night gives you more energy and time to put towards other areas of your physical health.

More exercise during a 4 day week

A study from the 4 Day Week Global Foundation found that those who switched to a 4 day week not only exercised more frequently, they also increased their exercises sessions by six minutes on average per session.

In fact, 4 day week pilot participants exercised an extra 23.7 minutes on average per week.

A more balancing lifestyle when you work a 4 day week

Employees found that they were less sedentary, spent more time outdoors and engaged in hobbies that were more conducive to a healthy lifestyle when they worked a 4 day week.

Interested in introducing reduced working hours into your business?

Book in time to speak with our Programs Manager, Victoria S. , who can help answer all of your burning questions. We offer a range of services to help you wherever you are on your 4 day work week journey.

8. The 4 day week is good for families

Working parents are perhaps the group of people who most benefit from working a 4 day week. Their children also benefit from getting to spend more time with them.

The 4 day week supports the family unit

Both mothers and fathers in the UK trial reported spending more time with their children, but men spent 27% more time compared to when they worked a 5-day week, while women spent 13% more time.

It can also indirectly boost family finances, if parents elect to have children at home one more day per week (not all of them do - for a few, time to themselves is more valuable!).

9. The 4 day week is good for growing your business

Businesses who trial a 4 day week show all the indicators for strong business growth.

How the 4 day week helps your business to grow

The 4 day work week can improve the retention rate of your staff. Past pilot programs have shown that the retention rate increases during the trial period.

In the South Africa trial, retention increased by 11% for the 6-month period. In fact, staff loved their 4 day week so much that 13% of them said that “no amount of money” would induce them to return to a 5 day week schedule, while over half of them said that they would require a 21-50% pay increase.

In the same South African trial employees took 9% less sick days during the 4 day week trial. In the UK trial, there was a staggering 65% reduction in the number of sick and personal days being taken by staff.

Productivity goes up when employees trial a 4 day work week. It has to, as they have less time to do their work.

All of these are indicators of strong business growth.

10. The 4 day week gives you 50% extra weekend, every weekend!

A bit of a no-brainer but when it is put into words a whole extra 50% of extra time off every week is phenomenal for achieving work-life balance.

1 in 10 employees who work a 4 day week say that no amount of money would ever convince they to return to their five-day schedule. The 4 day week is growing in popularity and it is here to stay!

How can I contribute to the 4 day week movement?

So, how can we ensure the 4 day work week becomes routine over radical? We’re a non-profit organization looking to bring the 4 day week to as many people across the globe as possible. Our goal is to create a million years of new free time through 4 day week trials and transitions.

Would you like to sponsor us on this journey? Donate as little as $5 per month to become a part of this movement for a 4 Day World.

Click here to see what you get in exchange for becoming a sponsor

How can I improve my business with a 4 day week?

We offer support for businesses looking to make the shift to reduced-hour working in several ways:

1. Our Foundation Course

Our Foundation Course is designed for business leaders, consultants and entrepreneurs looking to understand how to implement a 4 day week in their organization, or to support the implementation of one in another organization.

We teach you through six video lecture modules, using the 100-80-100? model.

2. Our Pilot Programs

We run 4 day week pilots using the 100-80-100? principle across the globe. You can trial a 4 day week alongside other organizations in your geography. There are many pilots happening in various countries across the world.

Sign up here to register your interest in being a part of one of our pilots and we will let you know when the pilot in your country is kicking off! Alternatively, we have two global pilots happening in 2024, in March and September.

3. One-on-One Consulting

This is for larger organizations who want bespoke one-on-one support throughout the 4 day week planning and implementation process. We will provide you with world-leading experts in reducing working hours to help you on this journey.

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