Experts say it could be even shorter
By: Shubham Agarwal
For Business Insider
Video: Shortening the workweek to four days gives employees the chance to rest and be even more productive when they are working. Arif Qazi / Insider
My weekend was in dire need of rescue.
A few years ago, I was spending half of my weekend recovering from the week before, and the other half bracing myself for the next week. Whatever free time I had was often consumed by chores I couldn’t get to on workdays. There was hardly a moment for leisure, and by Monday morning I was always exhausted.
This grim cycle began to take a toll on me, so I started searching for solutions. At the time, back in 2018, a New Zealand firm had just wrapped up a landmark trial to test the efficacy of a four-day workweek. The two-month test found that the 240 participants were more productive, reported lower levels of stress, and enjoyed a much-improved work-life balance when they cut out one working day a week. Intrigued by the findings, I wondered whether an extra day off each week could be a way out of my constant burnout cycle. Since I already had the luxury of a flexible schedule as a freelancer, I decided to try it out.
Almost five years later, I still work only four days a week. While it hasn’t been perfect, working a shorter week has transformed my work-life balance and made me more productive when I am on the clock. My experience isn’t an anomaly: While the science is still in the early stages, a growing body of evidence suggests that the four-day workweek can improve a workplace and make employees more satisfied. And experts told me that as productivity tools with artificial intelligence catch on and more high-ranking executives acknowledge the importance of rest, the four-day workweek could become more commonplace — and the five-day week may become an ancient relic.
Why the 4-day week works
As work seeps into our lives and homes, a typical 9-to-5 workday has become a thing of the past. Not only are people clocking in more daily hours than before the coronavirus pandemic, but a survey of knowledge workers found that over 90% of employees also frequently work in the evenings and on weekends. People have no breathing room to disconnect from work during the week, and weekends have morphed into support systems for our jobs rather than desperately needed time away. This always-on culture has left workers feeling burned out.