Working for four days – whilst getting paid for five – sounds too good to be true. But the pandemic shifted the focus of employers and employees to centre around a better work-life balance[1]. The rapid and significant transition to virtual working that was seen during the pandemic highlighted that traditional work patterns can be altered[2]. It opened the door for employees to demand change.
An employee’s decision to engage with the four-day work week comes with many questions. Will they be able to use it productively? Will their well-being be significantly improved? Will it increase workload intensity to an unbearable level? Ultimately begging the question: Is it worth it?
Where has the demand come from?
In a pilot of the four-day work week, 96% of employees preferred working four days, 2% preferred five, and 3% did not have a preference[3]. A shortened work week is so important to employees that almost one in two of them would want a 0-25% pay increase to revert to a five-day week; nearly a third would require a 26-50% increase, and almost one in ten would want a 50% increase. Most significantly, just over one in eight said no amount of money would convince them to accept a five-day week again. So, what is fuelling the demand?
Employees want to maximise their potential, but they need the right environment to foster it.
What are the benefits?
There are three key benefits cited for employees to profit from in the four-day work week. These are productivity, work-life balance, and gender equality.
1. Productivity
Jenna Mackie is Co-founder and Director of Mackie Myers, a full service professional recruitment consultancy based in London. Her firm introduced the four-day workweek on a trial basis as they did not believe people in the professional services sector were fulfilling their full working potential on a Friday anymore. Mackie Myers felt they would take the opportunity to test the psychological benefits of the four-day workweek by giving employees the day off. A year on the business continues to benefit from increase efficiency and eliminated the drop in efficiency.
Jenna’s view is supported by the fact that 55% of employees[4] in a 4-day week pilot reported an increase in their ability to work, as well as Europe’s most productive countries averaging around 27 work hours a week[5]. This productivity likely comes from the improvement in well-being which, in turn, promotes better task prioritisation and efficient working[6].
2.Work-Life Balance
In a survey of over 2,000 employees, 77% identified a clear link between a shortened week and a better quality of life[7]. Mackie Myers were surprised by some of the additional benefits experienced by senior management and employees. These included people reporting lower resting heart rates, better sleep and feeling noticeably calmer.
4 Day Week Global – written by Autonomy, an independent research organisation – identified which measures of work-life balance improved in their pilot of the shortened week. 54% of participants found it easier to balance work with household jobs, 60% reported an increased ability to combine work with care responsibilities and 62% found it easier to combine work with a social life[8].
Most people who were asked what they did with their day off said, ‘life admin’, but a number enjoyed getting on with other things, like volunteering, upskilling, trying new activities, building side hustles – or even just relaxing[9][10]. As a result, 71% of them felt less likely to burn out, and 39% were less stressed[11]. That, combined with a 46% drop in fatigue, meant that mental and physical health both improved[12]. Employees had more time for rest and recovery and took fewer sick days as a result[13].
For Mackie Myers, individual days off were used differently depending on the team member. Some took the opportunity to spend more time with their children or go to the gym, whilst others took the opportunity to visit friends and family over the extended weekend.
3.Gender equality
The 4-day week potentially brings societal advantages including housework and childcare. This can begin to bridge the gender gap in unpaid domestic and care work. During the 4-day workweek pilot, the time men spent looking after children increased by more than double that of women (27% to 13% respectively)[14], whereas the share of housework stayed the same[15]. Roughly two million people are unemployed due to childcare responsibilities, and 89% of this figure are women[16]. The implementation of a shortened work week will likely help this gender divide in the workforce.
As a female Co-Founder, Jenna Mackie has experienced this benefit first hand. As a new mother she has been able to spend more time with her son, without feeling like she is compromising on running the business.
Why is there pushback?
1. Workload intensity
Unsurprisingly, compressing a five-day workload into four days has the potential to increase workload intensity. Of the 61 companies looked at, 1/3rd of employees perceived an increase in their work intensity when their week was shortened, while the other 2/3rds didn’t acknowledge a significant increase but did voice concerns on the issue[17]. Participants described that it was sometimes a battle to finish their to-do lists on time, that there was a bigger need to work into the evenings and that there was noticeably less socialising between colleagues[18]. This intensified workload could begin to effect efficiency and morale in the long-term.
2. Sector-based
Support for a shorter work week is stronger in some sectors than others, with banking, construction, managerial and professional roles favouring a shorter week[19]. Similarly, the 5th, 4th and 3rd pay quintiles strongly favour decreasing working hours[20]. In contrast, low-income groups, and those in sectors such as hospitality where people often need to work more hours, shortening the working week could be detrimental. A balance between reduction in working hours and policies to encourage more hours for the underemployed needs to be found[21].
Support for a shorter work week is stronger in some sectors than others, with banking, construction, managerial and professional roles favouring a shorter week[19]. Similarly, the 5th, 4th and 3rd pay quintiles strongly favour decreasing working hours[20]. In contrast, low-income groups, and those in sectors such as hospitality where people often need to work more hours, shortening the working week could be detrimental. A balance between reduction in working hours and policies to encourage more hours for the underemployed needs to be found[21].
However, as seen at Mackie Myers, the success of the 4-day week looks promising in the recruitment industry. Jenna notes that since recruitment is not your regular 9-5 and is very much ‘you get out what you put in,’ that it compliments working four days instead of five.
3.Stigma
An interesting question is whether working only four days a week when others are working five comes with any stigma, and a survey of more than 2000 employees suggested that it might. No fewer than 45% of those interviewed worried that spending less time at work would mean they would be labelled as lazy[22]. Employees might favour the shortened work week, but being worried about how their colleagues will perceive them might make them afraid to be early engagers in the change[23].
Conclusion
There
is a fine balance between reducing work hours enough to find a happy work-life
balance and promote employee well-being, and reducing hours so much that the
compressed workload is crippling. Still, the
shortened work week certainly brings benefits, and employees should carefully
consider them alongside potential drawbacks. Employers, meanwhile, will have to
take a trial-and-error approach between balancing reduced hours and the
potential pitfalls of doing so, in a way that will best suit their staff.
References
A special thanks to Jenna Mackie from Mackie Myers for taking the time to speak to us regarding her firm and the impact switching to a 4 day work week has had.
[1] Campbell and Fletcher (2023)
[2] Hancock (2021)
[3] 4 Day week global (2023)
[4] 4 Day week global 2023
[5] https://time.com/4621185/worker-productivity-countries/
[6] 4 Day week global 2023
[7] Laker and Roulet (2019)
[8] 4 Day Week Global (2023)
[9] 4 Day Week Global (2023)
[10] Laker and Roulet (2019)
[11] 4 Day Week Global (2023)
[12] 4 Day Week Global (2023)
[13] Change (2017)
[14] 4 Day week global 2023
[15] 4 Day week global 2023
[16] Change (2017)
[17] 4 Day Week Global (2023)
[18] 4 Day Week Global (2023)
[19] Shepherd and Bhattacharya (2021)
[20] Shepherd and Bhattacharya (2021)
[21] Shepherd and Bhattacharya (2021)
[22] Laker and Roulet (2019)
[23] Laker and Roulet (2019)
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