The 4-day Workweek: A Boost to Productivity and Work-life Balance?
The 4-day workweek has been trialed around the globe. Its popularity has soared in recent years. Many have praised its merits, highlighting its benefits for productivity, work-life balance and well-being. Yet, despite its undeniable successes, criticism has also surfaced.
A 4-day week compresses the typical 5-day schedule into 4 days and offers a 3-day weekend. While there are multiple ways of reducing a week, the 100:80:100 model dominates. Under this model, employees receive 100% of their salary, work 80% of their previous hours (4 days of 8 hours instead of 5) and must meet 100% of their targets.
The concept is building momentum. Some 30% of large US companies are exploring new work schedules, such as a 4-day week, according to KPMG's 2024 CEO Outlook Survey.
However, a shorter working week is not necessarily the best way to guarantee employee well-being and work-life balance. A Gallup survey found that enhancing the quality of employees’ work experience had a 2.5 to 3 times greater impact on their overall well-being than reducing the number of days or hours worked.
What factors drove this cultural shift toward prioritizing work-life balance?
The pandemic has led to a re-evaluation of work arrangements. Younger generations, notably Millennials and Generation Z, value work-life balance and well-being over job security and long working hours. Also, growing awareness of mental health issues at work is prompting moves towards flexible working hours and lighter workloads. Increased digitization of work processes allows for more flexible options. Results are increasingly given priority over hours worked.
As a result, companies that encourage work-life balance see improved employee performance and lower staff turnover. Well-rested, well-balanced employees tend to be more productive and more engaged.
Some states and local authorities are passing laws to support a societal commitment to improving employee well-being.
The promise of the 4-day workweek
The promise of a 4-day workweek is undeniably seductive. That means having a 3-day weekend every week - more time for family, rest and personal activities.
On paper, the 4-day workweek sounds revolutionary. The idea is simple: employees work fewer days while maintaining the same level of output. The rationale is that by reducing the number of working days, organizations boost productivity and efficiency, while allowing their employees to enjoy a healthier work-life balance. It's a win-win situation. It's a concept that meets the growing desire for flexibility and balance in modern working environments.
Some companies have adopted the 4-day model with great success. They report that employees are more motivated, take less sick leave and get more done in less time.
But is the improvement in work-life balance really sustainable, or is there some hidden stress associated with condensing a week’s worth of work into fewer days?
Pressure to perform – the unintended consequences
The core assumption behind the 4-day work week is that productivity can remain constant while the number of hours worked decreases.
For many employees, the expectation to deliver the same results in fewer hours means working at a faster pace, with little room for error or downtime. This pressure can seem overwhelming, as there is less flexibility to deal with unforeseen tasks, unexpected meetings or emergency situations. Rather than fostering a relaxed, balanced atmosphere, the 4-day workweek can intensify the stress of meeting deadlines in a shorter timeframe.
This compressed schedule can also disrupt natural work rhythms. In a typical 5-day workweek, employees have more breathing room to space out meetings, catch up on emails and focus on creative or in-depth work. The 4-day model leaves little time for reflection or rest between tasks, which can lead to mental fatigue and burnout.
The complex relationship between time, work and well-being
Surprising results from a Gallup 2022 survey of 12,313 full-time employees reveal that, while employees working a 4-day week have higher levels of well-being and feel less burned out than their colleagues on a 5-day week, they also display higher levels of active disengagement.
A shorter working week was associated with a higher percentage of disengaged employees, who tend to feel disconnected from their employer, team or manager.
These findings suggest that reducing the workweek is perhaps not the best place to start. Instead, employers should focus on improving work experience first, not reducing the number of days.
It appears that the problem is not so much the number of days as it is the workplace! When it comes to overall well-being, the quality of the work experience has 2.5 to 3 times more impact than the number of days or hours worked.
The real problem is that most employees are poorly managed. Worldwide, nearly 8 out of 10 employees are not engaged or are actively disengaged at work - a symptom of an unhappy workplace. In the United States, the proportion is almost 7 out of 10.
If instead of shortening the working week, employers focused on improving the quality of the work experience, they would almost triple their positive influence on their employees' lives.
Striking a balance: is there a better way to promote well-being and productivity?
While the 4-day workweek is an attractive concept, it isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Its success largely depends on the industry and the type of work.
It could prove beneficial in certain sectors such as technology, government and finance, but would certainly lead to major disruptions and increased costs for other sectors such as healthcare, retail, manufacturing and other service-based businesses that depend on production schedules, extensive customer service needs and organizations that need to operate 24/7.
What’s clear is that true work-life balance comes from creating working environments where flexibility and trust are core values, and where employees are judged on the output they produce, and not on how many hours they spend at the office. How the company defines productivity is essential. Adopting a model that measures results rather than hours worked is a fundamental shift in performance measurement.
Final thoughts
A successful work model – whether it’s 4 days, 5 days, or something else – needs to focus on the quality of work and the mental health of employees, rather than squeezing more productivity out of fewer hours.
The promise of a 4-day workweek is undeniably seductive. But beneath the surface, the 4-day workweek may not be the magic cure it seems to be. Is it really helping workers achieve balance? The silent trade-off often lies in the expectation that workers will maintain – or even exceed – their previous productivity levels in a compressed timeframe. This leads to a workplace where the pressure to perform outweighs the benefits of fewer workdays.
A hybrid approach, where employees can choose flexible hours and schedules that fit their lives, may offer a more sustainable solution than a blanket reduction of workdays. The ability to spread out tasks over a traditional 5-day period, with more control over when and how they work, may be the key to reducing stress without sacrificing productivity.
As leaders, we have an opportunity – and an obligation – to rethink outdated models that no longer reflect reality.
