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According to a study conducted by scientists from the universities of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and Boston in the United States, working four days a week would improve the health and well-being of individuals. And beyond this benefit for workers, companies would also gain in profitability and productivity.
This is a question that comes up regularly: would working four days a week instead of five be more beneficial, both for employees and for companies? It would seem so, if we are to believe the results of a study conducted by British researchers.
Reduced working time rhymes with increased productivity
For this study, the scientists based their conclusions on data from a project that lasted six months, involving 61 employers in the United Kingdom, who decided to reduce the working time of their employees by 20%.
A few companies participating in the trial imposed certain conditions on employees, such as a reduction in their vacation days, being called back to work quickly or linking, for example, the four-day week to performance goals. In fact, for these employees, the standard 40-hour work week has been reduced to 32 hours with no reduction in pay.
According to Professor Brendan Burchell, a sociologist at the University of Cambridge and co-author of the study, “before the trial, many wondered if we would see an increase in productivity to compensate for the reduction in working time – but that’s exactly what we found“.
4-day week: less stress and burnout
From this experiment, the scientists concluded that working a four-day week reduced workers’ self-reported stress levels by 39% and burnout by 71%. In addition, sick days were reduced by 65%. “Many employees were very keen to find efficiencies themselves. Long meetings with too many people were cut short or abandoned altogether. Workers were much less inclined to kill time and actively sought technologies that improved their productivity“adds the sociologist.
Companies that are also winners
As part of this study, employees were also asked about their experience. Among the main benefits of the four-day week, improving work-life balance has often been cited: “60% said it was easier to combine work and family responsibilities, for example, and 62% said combining work and social life” report the authors.
At the same time, employers’ revenues increased slightly over the study period, by more than 1% on average. At the end of the pilot program, 92% of managers at participating companies said they planned to continue the shift from a five-day to four-day work week, with 18 of the 62 companies having already made the change in permed.