Four-Day Week Boosts Employee Well-Being

Study of trial four-day workweek in high-income countries show improvements in burnout, job satisfaction, mental health and physical health

- 

A four-day workweek might help with an employee's well-being, according to a study that trialled the intervention in organisations across the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Researchers from Boston College in the US and University College Dublin in Ireland found that workers reported an improved well-being with lower levels of burnout, a better job satisfaction and physical and mental health — this was not seen among employees of 12 organisations where a reduced workweek was not trialled.

For the study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, nearly 2,900 employees across 141 organisations in the six high-income countries worked four days a week for six months without a pay reduction. To maintain productivity, workplaces were re-organised with efficiency and collaboration improvements prior to start of the trial.