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A Guide to Implementing the 4-Day Workweek

• Ashley Whillans
• Charlotte Lockhart

As organizations continue to explore a variety of flexible work options, one promising avenue is the four-day workweek: The standard 40 hours per week is reduced to 32 hours, with the same pay and the same productivity expectations. Research suggests reducing hours can benefit both employees and employers, but it can be difficult to go from the idea to a successful implementation. In this piece, the authors — a researcher who studies time, money, and happiness and the CEO of a global nonprofit focused on the future of work — outline a six-step guide to help leaders plan, pilot, and roll out a four-day workweek. While no change comes easily, the authors argue that companies willing to embrace models like the four-day workweek will find the experimentation well worth the effort.

Working less can reduce employees’ stress — without sacrificing productivity.

In June of this year, Kickstarter became the latest in a string of organizations to announce they are experimenting with a four-day workweek. Its employees will be working 32 rather than 40 hours per week, while being expected to achieve the same productivity levels and earning the same pay. Though some recent studies on the efficacy of the four-day week have been overblown in the media , research suggests that reducing work hours can decrease employee stress and improve well-being without impacting productivity — but only when implemented effectively.

Why high-salary jobs with long, inflexible hours exacerbate the gender pay gap — and what to do about it.

• Ashley Whillans is an assistant professor in the negotiations, organizations, and markets unit at the Harvard Business School School and teaches the “Negotiations” and “Motivation and Incentives” courses to MBA students and executives. Her research focuses on the role of noncash rewards on engagement and the links between time, money, and happiness. She is the author of Time Smart: How to Reclaim Your Time & Live a Happier Life (Harvard Business Review, 2020).
• CL Charlotte Lockhart is a business advocate, investor, and philanthropist with more than 25 years of experience in multiple industries both locally and overseas. As CEO for the 4 Day Week Global campaign, she promotes the benefits of a productivity-focused and reduced-hour workplace. She is on the board of the Wellbeing Research Centre at Oxford University and the advisory boards of the U.S. campaign and the Ireland campaign for the four-day week.

Partner Center

March 7, 2023

A Four-Day Workweek Reduces Stress without Hurting Productivity

The results of a test involving dozens of employers and thousands of employees suggests that working only four days instead of five is good for workers’ well-being—without hurting companies

By Jan Dönges & Sophie Bushwick

Jose Luis Pelaez/Getty Images

Working four days instead of five—with the same pay—leads to improved well-being among employees without damaging the company’s productivity. That’s the recently reported result of a four-day workweek test that ran for six months, from June to December 2022, and involved a total of 61 U.K. companies with a combined workforce of about 2,900 employees.

During the COVID pandemic, many workers experienced increased stress and even burnout, a state of exhaustion that can make it difficult to meet work goals. “It’s a very huge issue,” says independent organizational psychologist and consultant Michael Leiter, who was not involved in the new report. “You see it particularly in health care, where I do a lot of my work. It’s making it much more difficult to hold on to talented people.” He explains that stress in the workplace makes it difficult for companies in health care and many other fields to recruit new hires and keep existing employees. But a greater awareness of burnout and related issues can have a positive effect, Leiter adds. “People are demanding more changes in how the work is organized,” he says.

That demand is what led the independent research organization Autonomy , in conjunction with the advocacy groups 4 Day Week Global and  4 Day Week Campaign and researchers at the University of Cambridge, Boston College and other institutions, to publish a report on what happens when companies reduce the number of days in a workweek. According to surveys of participants, 71 percent of respondents reported lower levels of burnout, and 39 percent reported being less stressed than when they began the test. Companies experienced 65 percent fewer sick and personal days. And the number of resignations dropped by more than half, compared with an earlier six-month period. Despite employees logging fewer work hours, companies’ revenues barely changed during the test period. In fact, they actually increased slightly, by 1.4 percent on average.

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Even before the COVID pandemic, companies tried to enhance employee well-being with interventions such as wellness programs. The new report suggests that a four-day workweek could be a tool for this purpose. “We think this is a far more effective and powerful way to have an impact on employees,” says report co-author Juliet Schor, an economist and sociologist at Boston College. Unlike most wellness benefits or flexible-hour schedules, which are typically options for individuals, the four-day week would be an organization-wide policy. As a result, Schor says, making that change would not harm workers’ career prospects or income.

When it comes to helping workers in distress, “so much of the effort goes into making them feel better rather than actually changing the nature of work,” Leiter says. “The kinds of results that [the researchers are] reporting are more substantial than many of those [wellness] programs. Because again, a lot of what these programs are doing are helping people tolerate the situation that they’re in rather than changing [that situation]. It’s a much more profound thing to do—to change the nature of work—than it is to help people put up with what they’ve got.”

This is not the only test of a shorter workweek. In 2008, for example, Utah  started a program to try to save building energy costs by closing state employees’ offices on Fridays, although that program kept employees working for 40-hour weeks and merely redistributed the hours over four days instead of five. Other researchers have studied workweeks or days with fewer hours, although those assessments have often included workers at only one organization. “Prior to 2022, which is when 4 Day Week Global began running trials of companies doing four-day weeks ..., to our knowledge, there were no multicompany studies of the four-day week,” Schor says. The organization has conducted multiple studies on the shortened week’s impact in other countries. The recent one in the U.K. was its largest effort thus far, however.

In addition to surveys, the researchers performed in-depth interviews with participants in the new report. From those interviews, it emerged that employees used the additional day off mostly for organization and everyday tasks. This, in turn, allowed them to reserve the weekend primarily for recreation, so they could spend time with their families and hobbies.

The test included companies from a variety of industries, including online retailers, financial services firms, animation studios and a fish-and-chips store. Each company chose how to implement its four-day week—making Friday a day off for everyone or allowing employees to choose any day off, for example. Participants also reduced hours by eliminating time-wasting tasks such as overlong meetings, the surveys found. Ninety-two percent of the companies that took part in the pilot program said they would continue to test the four-day week, and 18 companies decided to keep their reduced working hours permanently.

The test period of six months was relatively short, so it remains unclear whether the favorable impact on well-being will persist in the long term. Employees might become accustomed to the reduced working hours over time, and the lighter workweek would begin to have only a limited effect on stress levels. The researchers plan on conducting a follow-up survey with the participating companies that are maintaining a four-day workweek at the one-year mark in order to see if these positive results continue—and Schor expects they will. “One reason we think they will is that we did a midpoint survey on all of these,” she says. Key outcomes such as stress and burnout “improved in the first three months, and that improvement was maintained. So we do know that in months three to six, we didn’t get regression.”

Leiter would have preferred the team to have used a more established measure to assess burnout. The surveys asked questions related to exhaustion and frustration, he explains, rather than using an assessment like the Maslach Burnout Inventory , which is currently considered the gold standard. “There’s a colloquial idea of burnout, which is that it’s being tired, and it’s being really frustrated with work,” he says. In Leiter’s research , that state would be called “overextended,” he notes. “Burnout has that quality but is also being very cynical and discouraged and depersonalizing things and really losing your sense of accomplishment, which is a much more dark place to be.” Still, he says that the four-day workweek is likely to reduce this more rigorous definition of burnout as well, “because it gives people more control over their life and their relationship with work.”

Companies may be more willing to try out a four-day workweek after seeing new work-from-home policies succeed. “When companies switched to work from home because of the pandemic, this was something they had the technology to do all along and just were really reluctant to let people do it,” Schor says. “And so that really changed employers’ point of view. I think it opened their minds.” Leiter agrees. “I think people were very much into a rut about how work has to be organized,” he says. “What’s come out of the pandemic for a lot of people was reflection, saying, ‘It really doesn’t have to be that way. We can change things drastically—because we just did.’”

A version of this article originally appeared in Spektrum der Wissenschaft and was reproduced with permission.

Four-day work week trial in Spain leads to healthier workers, less pollution

Ninety-seven percent of workers say a four-day working week should become permanent in their organization. Image:  Unsplash/Arlington Research

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This article was published in March 2023 and updated in October 2023.

• Giving workers an extra day off a week actually increases productivity, boosts physical and mental health and reduces CO2 emissions.
• These are some of the surprising benefits of a four-day working week, research shows.
• Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos in January 2023, Sander van 't Noordende, CEO of HR consulting firm Randstad, said the four-day working week was “a business imperative”.

Work smarter not harder has been the mantra of management consultants for decades. But what if you simply work less? There’s mounting evidence that ditching the conventional working week has benefits for employers and employees alike.

The World Economic Forum’s landmark 2020 report The Future of Jobs predicted that the rapid digitalization of the world of work would lead to two-fifths of the global workforce operating remotely . Many organizations would fully embrace flexible working, it added.

That principle was put to the test in a series of trials across the world in 2022 co-ordinated by a not-for-profit organization, 4 Day Week Global, with employers in Ireland, the United States, Australia and New Zealand taking part.

The Future of Jobs Report 2023 found that 75% of companies surveyed expect to adopt AI, big data and cloud technologies in the next five years.

The Centre for the New Economy and Society provides a platform for leaders to share insights on the adoption and efficacy of new technologies, and the readiness of the workforce to use them. Our work includes developing insights and dialogue on growth, jobs, skills, equity and risks.

Learn more about our impact:

• Gender parity: Since 2006, we have annually measured the state and evolution of gender parity in 102 countries, supporting decisionmakers to identify the most effective policies to close gender gaps. In Chile , we helped establish gender parity accelerators and benefitted 728,000 women – reducing the gender gap by 37% in the participating companies.
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Want to know more about our centre’s impact or get involved? Contact us .

Surprising benefits of four-day working week

The global studies were followed by major city-wide and national trials.

Spain's third largest city Valencia, a pilot programme trialled a four-day week by scheduling local holidays on four consecutive Mondays throughout April and May 2023 .

The new temporary working week affected around 360,000 workers, who used the additional downtime to do sporting activities, relax and prepare meals, according to an independent commission of health and science experts tasked with evaluating the programme's impact.

Results showed people in the programme had higher self-perceived health status, reduced levels of stress, were less tired and felt happier and more personally satisfied.

The drop in commuting also led to a reduction in nitrogen dioxide emissions and improved air quality. And, in a separate 2022 study – one of the biggest single-country trials in the UK to date involving 73 companies and 3,300 employees, the results were similar – four days’ work for five days’ pay benefitted both employers and workers, as this Statista graphic shows.

Almost half of respondents said productivity improved either slightly or significantly, and 86% stated it highly likely they would continue with a four-day work week after the study.

Higher productivity

Put simply, working a four-day week meant people got more done in less time. Back in 2019, Microsoft Japan introduced a four-day working week and reported a 40% boost in productivity .

There were similar results from the global trials in 2022 with employees committing to cover 100% of their normal work in 80% of the time. When asked to rate improved productivity during the trial on a scale, where one was negative and 10 was very positive, employers gave it 7.7.

One employee in the Irish trial said: “I guess I've been a lot more careful with my calendar. It is one thing in terms of planning, focus time or identifying my priorities for the work week… not accepting every meeting that comes in.”

Happier workers

More than nine out of 10 employees who took part in the global trials said they wanted to continue with the four-day week, rating their experience 9.1 out of 10 . Measures of employee stress, burnout, fatigue and work/family conflict all declined.

At the same time, employees reported improved physical and mental health, work-life balance and increased general life satisfaction. Although some employees were still doing some work on their day off, most felt they were more productive and doing a better job.

People reported getting more exercise and more sleep on a four-day week. For families, the results from the UK study were very positive with the time spent by male workers looking after their children increasing by 27% .

Better for the planet

With one less day at work, commuting time per week was expected to drop and that’s just what happened, falling from 3.5 hours to just under 2.6 hours – 27% lower. But a bigger surprise was an overall reduction in people commuting by car, from 56.5% to 52.5% of employees.

Researchers said this was partly due to remote working but there were other signs that people were more environmentally conscious. Time spent on household recycling, walking and cycling and buying eco-friendly products saw “a small but significant” increase.

An earlier study by the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that a 10% reduction in working hours cut an individual’s carbon footprint by 8.6% prompting lead researcher economist Juliet Schor, to argue that a shorter working week is key to cutting global carbon emissions .

Here to stay?

The four-day week trials won near unanimous approval from the workers who took part, with 97% saying a four-day week should become permanent in their organization. Employers, too, were very positive – 92% of those who took part in the UK are retaining the four-day week .

Globally, companies who took part reported their revenues had increased by approximately 8% over the trial and were 37.55% higher than the same period in 2021. Hiring was up, absenteeism was down and even the number of people quitting declined slightly.

Worryingly for companies not embracing the four-day week, seven out of 10 employees said they would demand a pay increase of between 10% and 50% if they were expected to work five days a week – 13% said no amount of money would persuade them to give up the four-day week.

Business imperative

Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos in January 2023, Sander van 't Noordende, CEO of global HR consulting firm Randstad, said the four-day working week was “a business imperative ” in a world where talent is scarce.

Urging a change in employer attitudes, he said bosses should treat employees as customers. “Your customer, you ask what they want and you try to do the best possible job for your customer. You should treat talent in an equal way.” he said.

Randstad’s research showed that half of all employees were willing to quit their jobs if they were not happy at work. Flexible hours and hybrid working – combining time spent in the office and remotely – was a proven way to increase job satisfaction, van 't Noordende added.

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The four-day work week: a chronological, systematic review of the academic literature

• Published: 13 April 2023

Cite this article

• Timothy T. Campbell   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5173-8086 1  

5 Citations

36 Altmetric

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Despite having been propounded for at least 50 years, the four-day work week (4DWW) has recently attracted global attention. The media headlines are dominated by the positive outcomes that can be expected by converting to a 4DWW. However, on examination the claims often have foundations that derive from reports published by advocacy groups and organisation’s self-reported results rather than scholarly research. This paper turns to the academic literature and uses a chronological, systematic review method to address the questions of what positives and negatives can be attributed to the 4DWW? Does the scholarly research support the popular contemporary claims? And what can be learned from more than 50 years of scholarly 4DWW publications that can inform future research? Drawing on 31 academic articles that specifically researched the 4DWW, the conclusions found that the majority demonstrated favourable results such as increased morale, job satisfaction, cost reductions and reduced turnover whilst negatives included performance measures and monitoring being intensified, scheduling problems, and that benefits may fade over time. The impact on productivity and the environment were inconclusive. Overall, the scholarly research paints a more complicated and ambiguous picture compared to that presented by 4DWW advocates and the media. More contemporary research utilising rigorous methodologies is required.

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How Far-Reaching Could the Four-Day Workweek Become?

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Once seen as an impossible fantasy, the four-day workweek has slowly begun to gain traction in recent years. Though it might still seem like a distant dream for many workers, some forward-thinking companies have already adopted shorter working weeks to keep their employees happier and more productive.

The world’s most extensive four-day workweek trial to date — in which 2,900 workers from 61 companies in the U.K. participated from June to December 2022 — has released its full findings. Various four-day-week models, such as Fridays off, staggered, decentralized, and annualized, were followed. The trial found that the four-day workweek significantly increased job satisfaction, improved work-life balance, and reduced employee stress. The results also showed improved product quality and customer service, and a significant reduction in absences and sick days.

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These findings support the idea that the four-day workweek is becoming an increasingly attractive proposition for employers looking to reduce costs, retain staff members, and enhance workers’ well-being. This could possibly become the new standard, given that more companies are now considering offering their employees four-day weeks permanently — not just on an experimental basis.

Of the 61 companies that took part in the experiment, an impressive 92% are continuing with the four-day week, and 18 of those organizations have declared that it will be a permanent change. The research conducted before and after the trial revealed that 39% of employees experienced lower stress levels and 71% noticed less burnout while working shorter weeks. Anxiety, fatigue, and sleep issues all decreased while physical and mental health significantly improved.

During the trial period, work-life balance improved in many ways. Specifically, it became easier for 54% of employees to balance their jobs with household duties and responsibilities. In addition, satisfaction regarding both financial stability and relationships increased due to people’s ability to better manage the amount of time allotted for each activity. Similar experiments in Belgium, Spain, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand have produced equally impressive results .

Although the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of a four-day workweek, the reality is that not all industries are currently able to make the switch. For example, the health care industry must ensure that staff members are always available, given that many medical conditions require around-the-clock care and emergencies can happen at any time.

Another issue many employers worry about is how their business could be affected by such a change. Although several prominent worldwide companies, such as Microsoft in Japan and Unilever in New Zealand , have conducted trials for the four-day workweek with positive feedback, many large organizations have been slow to embrace this trend, partially because their complex, inflexible structures can impede progress.

Although the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of a four-day workweek, the reality is that not all industries are currently able to make the switch.

So while the evidence in favor of a four-day workweek is strong, some challenges still need to be considered before it can become widely adopted. Organizations need to weigh the pros and cons while considering their staff members’ individual needs when deciding whether this would be the best option for them.

Fortunately, we’re seeing small and midsize businesses take the initiative to experiment with the shortened workweek, since they are much more adaptable and able to quickly act on ideas sponsored by their CEOs or founders. In addition, leaders at small companies likely encounter less bureaucracy. As a result, they can better anticipate the effect that widespread change will have on their entire organization and more easily implement such changes than large, multinational corporations with less flexible structures can.

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Instead of reducing their employees’ hours, some companies may soon shift to more creative means of promoting work-life balance, like no-meeting days . I anticipate that changes will occur gradually as more large and small companies begin experimenting with the four-day workweek. While there may be a few bumps in the road, I firmly believe we’re on the brink of a significant shift. With so many successful tests conducted around the world, the proof is in the pudding.

For now, the shorter workweek may not be widespread, but there’s momentum around the globe to keep the experiment going. Small and midsize businesses are leading the charge, and large companies are beginning to take notice. It’s up to everyone — employers, employees, and leaders alike — to continue pushing for change if we want to see more widespread adoption of the four-day workweek.

About the Author

Benjamin Laker ( @drbenlaker ) is a professor of leadership at the University of Reading’s Henley Business School and coauthor of Too Proud to Lead: How Hubris Can Destroy Effective Leadership and What to Do About It (Bloomsbury, 2021).

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These companies tried a 4-day workweek. More than a year in, they still love it

A U.K. four-day workweek pilot has shown lasting benefits more than one year later. Dragon Claws hide caption

A U.K. four-day workweek pilot has shown lasting benefits more than one year later.

The four-day workweek is proving to be the gift that keeps on giving.

Companies that have tried it are reporting happier workers, lower turnover and greater efficiency. Now, there's evidence that those effects are long lasting.

The latest data come from a trial in the U.K. In 2022, 61 companies moved their employees to a four-day workweek with no reduction in pay.

They began it as a six-month experiment. But today, 54 of the companies still have the policy. Just over half have declared it permanent, according to researchers with the think tank Autonomy, who organized the trial along with the groups 4-Day Week Campaign and 4 Day Week Global.

Follow-up surveys help to explain the four-day workweek's success.

A manufacturer tried the 4-day workweek for 5 days' pay and won't go back

Improvements in physical and mental health, work-life balance, and general life satisfaction, as well as reductions in burnout, have been maintained over the past year, says sociologist Juliet Schor of Boston College, who's part of the research team. Workers report higher job satisfaction now than before the trial began.

"The results are really stable. It's not a novelty effect," she says. "People are feeling really on top of their work with this new model."

Similarly positive results are emerging from other four-day workweek trials, including in the U.S., Schor says.

"Doesn't happen by magic"

At a recent webinar, participating companies shared their experiences and tips for success.

"It absolutely doesn't happen by magic," says Nicci Russell, CEO of the London-based water conservancy non-profit Waterwise. "You can't just drop a day and carry on as usual, because how stressful would that be?"

Russell says after some initial teething problems, they managed to find efficiencies that allow all 10 employees to take Fridays off. They keep all meetings to 30 minutes and make sure those meetings start on time. They block off focus time on their calendars — sometimes even declaring Monk Mode Mondays. They're more mindful of the emails they send and of the time they spend going through their inboxes.

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Less is more: how a 4-day workweek could make you and your company more productive.

"I only do my emails now at certain times of the day. I'm not drawn into them all day, every day," she says.

At the end of the pilot, the staff at Waterwise were unanimous in their desire to continue the four-day week. A majority said they wouldn't consider a five-day-a-week job again unless presented with a significant pay raise.

"It's brilliant for retention, which is super important in a teeny organization like ours," says Russell.

No one-size-fits-all

One important finding, researchers say, is that there is no one-size-fits-all recipe when it comes to the four-day workweek.

At Merthyr Valleys Homes in South Wales, giving everyone Fridays off wouldn't have worked, says Ruth Llewellyn, who led the pilot at the housing cooperative.

With 240 employees working in roles from customer service to home repairs and maintenance, they decided to keep their operations running from Monday through Friday.

"For us, the thought of dropping repair service for our tenants one day a week meant that we wouldn't be providing the same service," Llewellyn says.

Instead, employees work a variety of schedules depending on individual and team needs. Some have a set day off every week, while others are on a rolling schedule. Some employees work two half-days, and some still work five days a week but shorter hours, allowing them to drop off and pick up their children from school.

The teams found time savings in different places. Some of the trades staff found they could reduce travel time to and from the building supplier with better planning around which materials they needed. Customer-facing teams found they could address smaller issues quickly over the phone.

Iceland Cut Its Workweek And Found Greater Happiness And No Loss In Productivity

Employees are more motivated, employee performance has held consistent, and absences for illnesses have fallen, Llewellyn says.

Yet the company is not committing to the four-day workweek forever — at least, not yet. Hoping for still more data, it extended the pilot and will re-evaluate the results later this spring.

"We're really hopeful at that point that we can make it permanent," says Llewellyn.

Why companies fail

Of the 61 U.K. companies that joined the 2022 pilot, only a few have discontinued the four-day workweek.

At one small consultancy, although the staff reported improved morale and the company reported a boost in efficiency, there were problems managing client and stakeholder expectations, according to feedback collected after the pilot.

Researchers suggest that better external communications and more flexibility in adapting the policy to challenging conditions might have made a difference.

"There is a suggestion that the organisation did not give the policy enough of a chance, and indications of a change of heart on the issue from management," the researchers wrote.

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Economics of a four-day working week: research shows it can save businesses money

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The idea of a four-day working week is gaining momentum. The Labour Party has included it in its 2019 electoral manifesto, and Microsoft Japan announced positive results from a trial run earlier in 2019. Some fear it will “wreck” the economy .

But, colleagues and I have found in our research that the benefits of a four-day working week, without loss of pay, can outweigh the cons for both businesses and staff. We surveyed a number of businesses that have already adopted the four-day working week and found that they were making savings of almost £92 billion (around 2% of total turnover) each year.

Just over half (51%) of the respondents thought that the four-day working week enabled them to save costs. Of those, 62% say their staff take fewer days off sick, 63% say they produce better quality work, and 64% are more productive. Our research also outlines that the businesses who haven’t yet implemented a four-day week could save around £12 billion by moving to one. If we add this to the savings made by businesses that already implement a four-day week, we’d get a total combined saving of roughly £104 billion a year.

It is interesting to note that our positive results square with the evidence provided by Microsoft Japan. In its trial in August 2019, 2,300 employees were given a paid Friday off each week. The company reported an impressive 40% increase in the productivity of employees in the month (measured against August 2018). But other measures were also adopted to improve productivity, for example a significant reduction in the time and number of meetings and encouragement to use online platforms for collaboration.

On their day off, workers were encouraged to volunteer, learn and train. Or simply rest to improve their productivity and creativity. After five consecutive Fridays off the company reported a sales rise by nearly 40%, the company’s electricity consumption dropped by 23% and there was a 59% reduction in the printing of paper pages. This experiment suggests the arrangement might be applicable to larger corporations and in one of the countries most affected by a workaholic culture .

Other companies have implemented the four-day working week and also reported an increment in staff productivity. One example is Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand estate management firm that adopted the policy in November 2018. The company ran a pre and post-trial survey across employees and found that productivity was unharmed by the shortened work week, while staff work-life balance had improved by 24%, sense of empowerment by 20%, leadership and commitment levels respectively by 22% and 20%, and stimulation by 22% .

In our research we have also highlighted that the benefits of this arrangement aren’t just for businesses and the world of work. An extra day off could have a knock-on effect for the wider society. We found 54% of employees said they would spend their day shopping, meaning a potential boost for the high street, 43% would go to the cinema or theatre and 39% would eat out at restaurants.

We also see potential environmental benefits to a shorter working week. In addition to the reduction of energy and paper use experienced by Microsoft Japan, we think that fewer journeys to and from work provides a potentially large green dividend with less fuel consumption and a reduction in pollution .

Challenges remain

The hottest question now is: can this work arrangement be easily translated into a change in legislation such as the one proposed by the Labour Party? In its annual conference the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said that if the party wins the election, it will reduce the average working week to 32 hours within ten years .

One of the main challenges outlined by our research is that the four-day working week can be difficult to implement in service industries where customer demands need to be met, and particularly for smaller businesses. It would also imply a significant change in public services like teaching and nursing. But Labour did recognise that different sectors will need to respond in different ways.

Meanwhile, research by the Centre for Policy Studies , a centre-right think tank, also found that reducing the hours of public sector employees would mean at best a £17 billion cost for the Treasury and at worst a possible £45 billion cost, assuming no increase in productivity and a need to expand the workforce in public services.

But the main point is that any legislation change should not just focus on reducing time but also to find ways for employees to enhance their productivity when they are working. Time reduction should be seen as both the conduit and the outcome of increased productivity.

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Why 2023 Could Finally Be the Year of the 4-Day Workweek

T owards the end of 2022, headlines began popping up trumpeting the arrival, at long last, of a new way of working. Business Insider’s, for example, read: “New Research May Have Just Paved the Way for the 4-Day Week.” The research in question was the first large-scale, independent pilot programs to test the impact of reducing the workweek to roughly 32 hours, without any reduction in pay.

Conducted by the non-profit organization 4 Day Week Global (4WDG), the two pilots were based on six-month trials that included 33 companies and a total of 903 employees, primarily in the U.S. and Ireland. They confirmed a thesis that has been gathering steam for a while: a shorter work week is better for both employees and employers.

“We knew the results were going to be good,” says Charlotte Lockhart, co-founder of 4DWG. “The only thing that surprised us is that they were so good.” By almost every measure both employers and employees overwhelmingly judged the new schedule a success.

Upon thinking a little further, Lockhard recalled another surprise: “The statistic around how much you would have to pay people to go back to the old ways,” she said, referring to the nearly 42% who would need a 25-50% salary increase to return to a five-day work week. “And then there were the people who said they wouldn’t do it for any amount—’you just couldn’t pay me enough.’”

In February, 4 Day Week Global will release the results of an even bigger trial that was conducted last year in the United Kingdom. And independent of its pilots, hundreds of other companies and even governments are experimenting with and adopting the new schedule on their own.

Will 2023 be the year in which the 4-day work week becomes a reality? Here are reasons why some think it may:

The timing is finally right

The five-day week that most of us take as natural is actually less than 100 years old. Although British factories began in the late 19th century to tack a half day on Saturday to their workers’ day of rest on Sunday, the full two-day weekend as we know it was first adopted by an American mill in 1908, and didn’t become standard in the United States until the Great Depression.

Since then, a handful of countries and companies have made the work week shorter still. Although its legal requirement is 37 hours, Denmark’s average weekly total, for example, fell below 34 hours by 2002, and remains there to this day. But resistance to a more widespread transformation has long been the norm. “I published my first book on this in 1997,” says Boston College economist and sociologist Juliet Schor, who leads the research for 4 Day Week Global, “but back then was unable to find any companies willing to reduce their staff’s workload.” That began to change several years ago when a handful of companies began experimenting. “But nothing like what is happening now” Schor says. “Now, it’s actually a real thing.”

Chalk one up for the pandemic. Under lockdown, stress levels and burnout skyrocketed among workers struggling to keep up with their jobs while balancing the increased demands of domestic life, and helped fuel both frustration at workplace inefficiencies, and, in some sectors, mass resignations.

At the same time, many employers got firsthand evidence that their staff would keep up with work even when their work patterns changed. “The shift to remote work changed the way many employers started to think about scheduling,” says Schor, noting that the CEO of Healthwise, a Boise, Idaho healthcare company, told her the experience taught him he could trust his employees. And he wasn’t the only one.

“I think it was a real revelation to a lot of management that letting people work from home didn’t mean they wouldn’t work,” she says.

It’s undeniably good for employees

For most of her career, Julieanne Cotter worked a normal five-day-per-week schedule. But earlier this year, she took a job as a manager with Rent a Recruiter, an Ireland-based international head-hunting company, where the Monday through Thursday work week it was trialing as part of 4 Day Week’s pilot was a major draw. She uses every Friday to care for both elderly relatives and for herself. “Maybe I’ll just spend some time outside in the park,” she says. “In terms of your mental health it can just be huge. It completely re-energizes you.”

Individual experiments around the globe— more than 30 companies in the U.S. have tried it—have long found that a four-day week makes workers happier. But the new report goes into more depth on exactly how. Job satisfaction was higher for over 45% of participants and 60% said it improved work-life balance. Although 16.7% of people said that having to fit work into a tighter schedule had increased their stress levels, nearly double that amount, at 32.4%, said their stress levels had gone down over the trial period. “There’s a higher energy level going in,” says Cotter. “Knowing that you’re not going in on Monday morning and not coming out until 6 or 7 in the evening on Friday—it just feels different.”

Part of the improvement has to do with how workers used their third day off. Like Cotter, many take advantage of it to spend time with their families; the percentage of participants who said they wish they had more time for childcare was nearly halved over the course of the study. Others used it for leisure activities and personal time, factors that, in the pilots, helped boost participants’ frequency of duration of exercise and decrease their fatigue and even insomnia.

Since joining Calibre Analytics, a tech company based in Melbourne, Australia, earlier this year, software engineer Colby Swandale uses his third day off, he says, ”generally as a self-care day. I focus on my mental health and do activities like cycling, walks, and gym sessions.” And because Calibre adds its extra free day to the end of the weekend instead of the beginning (it operates on a Tuesday-Friday schedule), it has managed to banish the dreaded “Sunday Scaries.”

“I look forward to starting work each week,” Swandale says.

The one thing that workers didn’t use that extra day for? More work. “That was the biggest surprise,” says economist Schor about 2022 pilots, which overlapped with a period of spiraling inflation and the cost of living crisis. “No one used it to get a second job.”

It’s good for business

It doesn’t come as a shock that workers prefer an extra day off, and a shorter work week can be a powerful factor for attracting talent. That was the case for Swandale, who interviewed at several prominent tech firms before choosing Calibre. “The four-day week ultimately determined my decision to join the company,” he says.

At Rent a Recruiter, Cotter’s boss Barry Prost has found that the new schedule gives companies “a competitive advantage” when it comes to attracting talent. But the benefits for business don’t stop there. Among the reporting countries in the 4 Day Week study, revenues rose an average of 8.14% and increased a whopping 37.55% in comparison with the same period the previous year.

Since Search Intelligence Ltd, a digital PR company based outside Oxford, England, made its switch to a four-day week in May 2022 (it was not part of the pilot), productivity has “gone through the roof,” says owner and managing director Fery Kaszoni. Junior staffers at the company are expected to have three successful PR campaigns per month but before the switch often struggled to meet those targets. “Since May, every single person has hit their KPIs,” says Kaszoni. “Productivity has increased 25 or 30%.”

How? Improved efficiency is the main factor. Search Intelligence Ltd developed new software that streamlined internal processes, but the biggest gains came by cutting down on meetings. “We don’t do long meetings anymore,” Kaszoni says. “We used to have the onboarding Zoom meeting where 10 people from our team would meet the client and just sit there and listen for an hour. Now, we send them an email, and say, ‘these are the questions, please answer them.’ We’ve cut down massively on unnecessary things and it’s just been brilliant.”

It’s probably good for the planet

Because there are so many variables, the exact impact of a four-day week on a business’ carbon footprint is difficult to measure. Many businesses have their energy use built into their office rent, so consumption is difficult to track and any offset there would need to be compared with any potential increase at workers’ homes. “I think the next step,” says Schor in reference to future studies, “is to see if people will upload their actual energy bills so we can look at the usage, and make seasonal adjustments.”

But one place where emissions seemed clearly reduced is in transportation. In the 4DWG study, commuting was somewhat reduced; the average time spent per week fell by nearly an hour. Cumulatively, that could mean big change. By lopping off a day of commuting, one British study found the U.K. would reduce car travel by 691 million miles per week.

Other studies have indicated that curbing work hours in high-income countries may result in lower consumption in general, which, in turn, reduces the carbon footprint. Another study in which Schor was involved found, for example, that a 10% reduction in hours equaled an 8.6% decline in the carbon footprint. “We don’t have a definitive finding yet,” Schor says now. “We just have some pieces of evidence that point in a good direction.”

Governments are paying attention

From 2015-2019, Iceland ran trials that reduced the workweek from 40 hours to 35 or 36 without a reduction in pay for 2,500 workers—or just over 1% of the country’s workforce. So successful was the experiment that once the results were published, unions began advocating for more widespread adoption, and by 2021, 86% of the country’s workers had either reduced their work week or had the right to do so.

Since then, other governments of various sizes have undertaken variations on the same switch. In 2019 the tiny municipality of Odsherred in Denmark switched its 300 public employees to a Monday-Thursday schedule (although without reducing their total hours overall), and in 2022, the UAE cut their work week for public employees to 4.5 days. In 2021 Spain announced the launch of a national trial and set aside 50 million euros to fund it, then began gradually rolling out the program in 2022. And in the spring of this year, Valencia—the country’s third-largest city—will roll out a creative, low-barrier-to-entry test of the four-day work week when it switches a holiday normally held in March to April, a month that, thanks to Easter and local festivities, already had three Fridays off.

But it’s true that efforts to shift to a four-day week through legislation have thus far run into obstacles that have diluted or blocked them. In May 2022, a bill before the California state legislature requiring companies with more than 500 employees to pay overtime after 32 hours a week stalled and has not been taken up again since. And while a reform that guarantees the right of employees to request a four-day schedule came into effect in Belgium in November 2022, that measure only compresses the work week rather than reducing it (employees must still work the same number of total hours as before).

“There was quite a big debate in Belgium in favor of a working time reduction, mostly among the trade unions and the feminist movement,” says Stan de Spiegelaere, a professor at Ghent University and director of policy for the union UNI Europa. “Now, it’s been buried. The political parties can say, ’we’ve done something—we made the four-day week possible.’ But this is not the four-day week we wanted.”

There’s no going back

But even without broader legislation encouraging them to make the switch, the number of both companies and governments eager to try a four-day work week is growing. 4DWG is launching new pilot programs quarterly around the world in the coming year.

“The conversations are happening at a much greater speed,” says 4DWG’s Lockhart. “And the idea is no longer as unfamiliar as it used to be. I expect that by the end of 2023, it will be considered mainstream.”

If that’s true, it’s in large part because of how popular the change has been for the entities that try it. Of the companies in 4DWG’s 2022 trials, a full 93% said they would either definitely continue with the four-day week or were planning to, though they had not made a final decision.

That fits with Julieanne Cutter’s perspective. Now that the trial is over, her employer, Rent a Recruiter, is continuing with its four-day week, and she suspects it won’t be long before society as a whole makes the change.

“There are so many benefits, from companies trying to stay competitive in terms of acquiring talent, to employees having better mental health, that I think it’s inevitable,” she says. “I think it’s coming.”

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A four-day workweek pilot was so successful most firms say they won’t go back

15 percent of employees who participated said that “no amount of money” would convince them to go back to working five days a week

If the idea of working four days a week for the same pay sounds like music to your ears, the results of a pilot program from the United Kingdom may give you cause for hope.

Dozens of companies there took part in the world’s largest trial of the four-day workweek — and a majority of supervisors and employees liked it so much they’ve decided to keep the arrangement. In fact, 15 percent of the employees who participated said “no amount of money” would convince them to go back to working five days a week.

Nearly 3,000 employees took part in the pilot , which was organized by the advocacy group 4 Day Week Global , in collaboration with the research group Autonomy, and researchers at Boston College and the University of Cambridge.

Companies that participated could adopt different methods to “meaningfully” shorten their employees’ workweeks — from giving them one day a week off to reducing their working days in a year to average out to 32 hours per week — but had to ensure the employees still received 100 percent of their pay.

At the end of the experiment, employees reported a variety of benefits related to their sleep, stress levels, personal lives and mental health, according to results published Tuesday. Companies’ revenue “stayed broadly the same” during the six-month trial, but rose 35 percent on average when compared with a similar period from previous years. Resignations decreased.

Of the 61 companies that took part in the trial, 56 said they would continue to implement four-day workweeks after the pilot ended, 18 of which said the shift would be permanent. Two companies are extending the trial. Only three companies did not plan to carry on with any element of the four-day workweek.

The results are likely to put the spotlight back on shorter workweeks as a possible solution to the high levels of employee burnout and the “Great Resignation” phenomenon exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, amid a global movement calling for businesses to ditch the in-office, 9-to-5, five-day workweek and adopt more flexible working practices instead.

The world’s largest four-day workweek pilot just launched in the U.K.

Increased revenue, improved employee well-being

The findings from the U.K. trial build on the results of an earlier, smaller pilot published in November and also coordinated by 4 Day Week Global. That experiment, which involved about 30 companies and 1,000 employees in several countries, resulted in increased revenue, reduced absenteeism and resignations, and improved employee well-being. None of the participating firms planned to return to five-day workweeks after the pilot ended.

The 4 Day Week Global group is coordinating these pilot programs as part of its global campaign to encourage more firms to switch from the standard 40-hour workweek to a 32-hour model for the same pay and benefits.

The U.K. pilot program involved twice as many companies and nearly three times as many employees as the earlier pilot and is the largest of its kind. The benefits to participants extended beyond the office and into employees’ personal lives.

Those who took part were less likely to report that they felt they did not have enough time in the week to take care of their children, grandchildren or older people in their lives. The time men spent looking after children increased by more than double that of women, pointing to positive effects of a shorter workweek on gender equality — though there was no change in the share of housework men and women reported taking on.

A majority of employees who experienced the four-day workweek didn’t want to go back: At the end of the pilot, they were asked how much money they would have to receive from their next employer to go back to a five-day week. Nearly a third said they would require a 26- to 50-percent increase and 8 percent said they would want 50 percent higher pay.

Four-day weeks and the freedom to move anywhere: Companies are rewriting the future of work (again)

Better work-life balance

A better work-life balance is the reason Michelle, a 49-year-old media executive who asked to be identified by her first name so she could speak candidly about her past employment, insisted on a four-day workweek when she applied to her current position. After working three- and then four-day weeks when she returned from maternity leave in 2015, she noticed a “stark” difference when she shifted back to five-day weeks working for a different company during the pandemic.

“Suddenly, it felt like my entire life was about work,” she says. She came “close to burnout” and, when her contract at that company ended, she was clear with prospective employers that she wanted to work four days a week. In her current position, she has Fridays off and is paid 80 percent of what she would earn if she worked five days.

“It feels like I can breathe,” she said. “It feels like I’m not constantly behind with my family life and feeling guilty and like squashing all of the jobs and errands and everything into two days.”

The extra time off is particularly helpful for child care, she says. She co-parents her 9-year-old son, who is autistic. In her previous job, when she worked three- or four-day weeks, the extra time “meant I could pick him up from school, we could spend more time together,” she says. “It makes a huge amount of difference to parents.”

A four-day workweek in Maryland? Maybe. Bill would set up a pilot program.

While the four-day workweek model has gained some steam, it’s still not standard practice globally, and much of the research on the policy is limited by size. Most of the companies that took part in the U.K. trial were small — 66 percent had 25 or fewer employees — and predisposed to exploring the concept of flexible work. Ninety percent of the participating employees were White, and 68 percent had at least an undergraduate degree.

Opponents of the four-day workweek say while the policy may benefit some workers, it is not feasible for many , including workers in key industries such as child care and health care , which already face widespread staff shortages. Some workers would rather work more and earn more. And some skeptics believe that employees’ productivity would eventually decrease if the four-day workweek was made permanent.

Proponents of the policy emphasize that there is no one-size-fits-all and that the benefits of a shorter workweek could reverberate throughout society, lowering health-care costs and reducing emissions from daily commutes. Their ideas are becoming more mainstream . Several large-scale trials of shorter workweeks are underway globally. In 2021, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) introduced a bill that would reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours and mandate overtime pay for work done beyond that limit.

There is precedent for a large-scale change in the standard workweek: As The Washington Post has previously noted , before the Great Depression, it wasn’t uncommon for employees in the United States to work six-day weeks. The 40-hour workweek was first codified into U.S. law in 1938. The argument put forward by groups such as 4 Day Week Global is that “we’re overdue for an update.”

Rachel Pannett contributed to this report.

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Four-day work week trials have been labelled a 'resounding success'. But four big questions need answers

Analysis Four-day work week trials have been labelled a 'resounding success'. But four big questions need answers

A little more than a century ago, most people in industrialised countries worked 60 hours a week — six 10-hour days. A 40-hour work week of five eight-hour days became the norm, along with increased paid holidays, in the 1950s.

These changes were made possible by massive increases in productivity and hard-fought struggles by workers with bosses for a fair share of the expanding economic pie.

In the 1960s and '70s it was expected that this pattern would continue. It was even anticipated that, by the year 2000, there would be a " leisure society ". Instead, the trend towards reduced working hours ground to a halt.

But now there are suggestions we are on the cusp of another great leap forward — a 32-hour four-day week for the same pay as working five days. This is sometimes referred to as the "100-80-100" model. You will continue to be paid 100 per cent of your wages in return for working 80 per cent of the hours but maintaining 100 per cent production.

In Spain and Scotland, political parties have won elections with the promise of trialling a four-day week, although a similar move in the 2019 UK general election was unsuccessful. In Australia, a Senate committee inquiry  has recommended  a national trial of the four-day week .

Hopes of the four-day week becoming reality have been buoyed by glowing reports about the success of four-day week trials, in which employers have reported cutting hours but maintaining productivity.

However, impressive as the trial results may appear, it's still not clear whether the model would work across the economy.

An employer-led movement

Unlike previous campaigns for a shorter work week, the four-day work week movement is being led by employers in a few, mainly English-speaking, countries. Notable is Andrew Barnes, owner of a New Zealand financial services company, who founded the 4-Day Week Global  organisation.

It has coordinated a program of four-day week trials in six countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States). Almost 100 companies and more than 3,000 employees have been involved. (A highly publicised  trial in Iceland  was not coordinated by it.)

These trials are being monitored by an "international collaboration" of research teams at three universities: Boston College, Cambridge University and University College Dublin. The Boston College team is led by work-time/leisure-time guru Juliet Schor, author of the 1991 bestseller,  The Overworked American .

A number of reports have been published, including  one "global" report  covering all six countries and separate reports for  the UK  and  Ireland . A report on the Australian trial is promised for April.

Overall, these reports have declared the trials a "resounding success" — both for employers and employees.

Employees, unsurprisingly, were overwhelmingly positive. They reported less stress, burnout, fatigue and work-family conflict, and better physical and mental health.

More significant were the employers' responses. They have generally reported improved employee morale and no loss of revenue. Nearly all have committed to, or are considering, continuing with the four-day-week model.

Four big questions

The trials do not, however, answer all the questions about the viability of the four-day week. The four main ones are as follows.

• 1. Are the research results reliable? Employers and employees were surveyed at the start, halfway through and at the end of the six-month trials. But only about half of the employees and two-thirds of employers completed the vital final round. So there's some uncertainty about their representativeness.
• 2. Did the participating firms demonstrate the key productivity proposition: an increase of almost 20 per cent in output per employee per hour worked? The firms involved were not asked to provide "output" data, just revenue. This may be a reasonable substitute. But it may also have been affected by price movements (inflation was on the march in 2022).
• 3. For those firms that achieved the claimed productivity increase, how did it come about? And is it sustainable? Proponents of the four-day week argue that employees are more productive because they work in a more concentrated way, ignoring distractions. A much longer period than six months will be needed to establish whether this more intense work pattern is sustainable.
• 4. Is the four-day model likely to be applicable across the whole economy? This is the key question, the answer to which will only emerge over time. The organisations involved in the trials were self-selected and unrepresentative of the economy as a whole.

They employed mostly office-based workers. Almost four-fifths were in managerial, professional, IT and clerical occupations. Organisations in other sectors, with different occupational profiles, may find increased productivity through more intensive working difficult to emulate.

Take manufacturing: only three firms from this sector were included in the large UK trial. Since manufacturing has been subject to efficiency studies and labour-saving investment for a century or more, an overall 20 per cent "efficiency gain" to be had across the board seems unlikely.

Then there are sectors that provide face-to-face services to the public, often seven days a week. They cannot close for a day, and their work intensity is often governed by health and safety concerns. Reduced hours are unlikely to be covered by individual productivity increases. To maintain operating hours, either staff will have to work overtime or more staff would need to be employed.

As for the public sector, in Australia and other countries "efficiency savings" involving budget cuts of about 2 per cent a year have been common for decades. Any "slack" is likely to have been already squeezed out of the system. Again, reducing standard hours would result in the need to pay overtime rates or recruit extra staff, at extra cost.

So what now?

This does not mean the four-day week could not spread through the economy.

One scenario is that it could spread in those workplaces and sectors where productivity gains are achievable.

Those employers and sectors not offering reduced hours would find it harder to recruit staff. They would need to reduce hours, perhaps by stages, to compete. In the absence of productivity gains, they would be forced to absorb the extra costs or pass them on in increased prices.

The pace at which such change takes place would depend — as it always has — on the level of economic growth, productivity trends and labour market conditions.

But it is unlikely to happen overnight. And, as always, it will be accompanied by many employers and their representatives claiming the sky is about to fall in.

Anthony Veal is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology of Sydney's Business School. This piece first appeared on The Conversation .

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A team of Cambridge social scientists have been conducting research on the world’s largest trial of a four-day working week.

Last year, 61 organisations in the UK committed to a 20% reduction in working hours for all staff for six months.

With no fall in wages..

The findings suggest that a four-day week significantly reduces stress and illness in the workforce, and helps with worker retention .

Some 71% of employees self-reported lower levels of “burnout”, and 39% said they were less stressed, compared to the start of the trial.

Researchers found a 65% reduction in sick days, and a 57% fall in the number of staff leaving participating companies, compared to the same period the previous year.

Company revenue barely changed during the trial period – even increasing marginally by 1.4% on average for the 23 organisations able to provide data. 

In a report of the results presented to UK lawmakers, some 92% of companies that took part in the UK pilot programme (56 out of 61) say they intend to continue with the four-day working week, with 18 companies confirming the change as permanent.

Research for the UK trials was conducted by a team of social scientists from the University of Cambridge, working with academics from Boston College in the US and the think tank Autonomy.

The trial was organised by 4 Day Week Global in conjunction with the UK’s 4 Day Week Campaign , and ran between June and December 2022.

Companies from across the UK took part, with around 2,900 employees dropping a day of work. Organisations involved in the trial ranged from online retailers and financial service providers to animation studios and a local fish-and-chip shop.

Other industries represented include consultancy, housing, IT, skincare, recruitment, hospitality, marketing, and healthcare.

Researchers surveyed employees throughout the trial to gauge the effects of having an extra day of free time. Self-reported levels of anxiety and fatigue decreased across workforces, while mental and physical health improved.

Many survey respondents said they found it easier to balance work with both family and social commitments: 60% of employees found an increased ability to combine paid work with care responsibilities, and 62% reported it easier to combine work with social life.

“Before the trial, many questioned whether we would see an increase in productivity to offset the reduction in working time – but this is exactly what we found,” said sociologist Prof Brendan Burchell, who led the University of Cambridge research.

"Many employees were very keen to find efficiency gains themselves."

Watch Prof Brendan Burchell discuss his research into how much we should be working.

"Long meetings with too many people were cut short or ditched completely"

Prof Brendan Burchell

"Workers were much less inclined to kill time, and actively sought out technologies that improved their productivity," said Burchell.

Dr David Frayne, a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, said: “We feel really encouraged by the results, which showed the many ways companies were turning the four-day week from a dream into realistic policy, with multiple benefits.”

David Frayne and Brendan Burchell will be discussing the findings at this year's Cambridge Festival. Read a speaker spotlight with David Frayne here.

The design of the trial involved two months of preparation for participants, with workshops and mentoring based on the experience of companies already on a shorter working week.

In addition to the survey work, designed in collaboration with colleagues including Prof Juliet Schor from Boston College, the Cambridge team conducted a large number of extensive interviews with employees and company CEOs before, during and after the six-month trial.

Other pilots run by 4 Day Week Global in the US and Ireland – with research conducted by many of the same academics – have already reported their findings . However, the UK trial is not only the largest to date but also the first to include in-depth interview research.

“The method of this pilot allowed our researchers to go beyond surveys and look in detail at how the companies were making it work on the ground,” said Frayne, from Cambridge’s Department of Sociology.

In terms of motivations, several senior managers told researchers they saw the four-day week as a rational response to the pandemic – and believed it would give them an edge when it came to attracting talent in the post-Covid job market.

Some saw it as an appealing alternative to unlimited home working, which they felt risked company culture. Others had seen staff suffer through health problems and bereavement during the pandemic, and felt an increased “moral responsibility” towards employees.

“I hated the pandemic, but it’s made us see each other much more in the round, and it’s made us all realise the importance of having a healthy head, and that family matters,” said the CEO of a non-profit organisation that took part in the trial.

However, many said shorter hours were being discussed long before Covid as a response to demanding or emotionally draining work. The CEO of a video game studio pointed to high-profile examples of “crunch and burnout” in their industry as a reason for involvement in the trial.

Perhaps surprisingly, however, no organisation interviewed was taking part in the trials simply because technology had reduced their need for human labour.

Some companies stopped work completely for a three-day weekend, while others staggered a reduced workforce over a week.

One restaurant calculated their 32-hour week over an entire year to have long opening times in the summer, but much shorter in winter.     

A few companies in the trial attached strings to the reduced hours, including fewer holiday days, agreement that staff could be called in at short notice, or a “conditional” four-day week: one that only continued while performance targets were met.

Interviews documented how companies reduced working hours without compromising on targets. Common methods included:

• shorter meetings with clearer agendas
• introduction of interruption-free ‘focus periods’
• reforming email etiquette to reduce long chains and inbox churn
• new analyses of production processes
• end-of-day task lists for effective handovers or next-day head starts.

"One person told us how their ‘Sunday dread’ had disappeared"

Niamh Bridson Hubbard

When employees were asked how they used additional time off, by far the most popular response was “life admin”: tasks such as shopping and household chores. Many explained how this allowed them a proper break for leisure activities on Saturday and Sunday.  

“It was common for employees to describe a significant reduction in stress,” said researcher and Cambridge PhD candidate Niamh Bridson Hubbard. “Many described being able to switch off or breathe more easily at home."

For some parents of young children, a midweek day off meant savings on childcare expenses. For those with older children, it meant some welcome ‘me time’. All reported doing more of the activities they already enjoy – from sport to cooking, music making to volunteering. Some developed new interests, while others used the time to get professional qualifications.  

“When you realise that day has allowed you to be relaxed and rested, and ready to absolutely go for it on those other four days, you start to realise that to go back to working on a Friday would feel really wrong – stupid actually,” said the CEO of a consultancy organisation involved in the trial.

When it came to working culture, employees were generally positive, feeling more valued by their employer and describing a shared sense of purpose arising from efforts to make the four-day week a success.

However, several staff at one large company had concerns about intensifying workloads, while some at creative companies expressed disquiet over reduced worktime conviviality due to ‘focus time’, and argued that unstructured chat often generates new ideas.

By the end of the six-month trial, many of the managers said they could not imagine returning to a five-day week. “Almost everyone we interviewed described being overwhelmed with questions from other organisations in their industry that are interested in following suit,” said Burchell. 

“When we ask employers, a lot of them are convinced the four-day week is going to happen.

"It has been uplifting for me personally, just talking to so many upbeat people over the last six months. A four-day week means a better working life and family life for so many people.”

All photographs from Getty Images. The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

A four-day working week improves mental and physical health

18 July 2023

Employees taking part in the world’s largest four-day week trial found that working one day fewer increased productivity, reduced burnout and increased wellbeing.

Studies have found that working more than 40 hours per week is associated with an increased risk of burnout symptoms , including emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment.

Professor Brendan Burchell and Dr David Frayne from the University of Cambridge are leading a research project investigating the practical and equitable impact of a four-day working week. Through the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit) , the researchers collaborated with a major trial of the four-day week in the UK.

After experiencing a four-day working week, employers found that anxiety and fatigue levels decreased across workforces while mental and physical health improved.

Of the 61 companies participating in the research, 56 said they are continuing with the four-day week (92%), with 18 confirming the policy is a permanent change.

Developing the trial

Professor Brendan Burchell, Professor in the Social Sciences, University of Cambridge and four-day week qualitative research lead. Credit: The Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit)

The UK trial ran between June and December 2022. It has been the largest four-day week trial to date and the first to include in-depth interview research. Professor Burchell, Dr Frayne and their team conducted the qualitative research. They worked with academics from Boston College in the United States, who led the quantitative research, plus think tank Autonomy, the not-for-profit community 4 Day Week Global and the UK’s 4 Day Week Campaign.

Companies across the UK took part, with around 2,900 employees dropping a day of work. Organisations involved in the trial ranged from online retailers and financial service providers to animation studios and a local fish and chip shop.

Other industries represented included consultancy, housing, information technology, skincare, recruitment, hospitality, marketing and healthcare.

In-depth interviews

While the four-day week campaign looked initially at quantitative statistics, Professor Burchell wanted to interview participants to discover the qualitative data on how the reduced week made them feel. He said:

A four-day working week is short-hand for a ‘20% reduction in working time’. Typically, this can be simply one day off a week, say Friday or Monday. It does not, however, include working longer days without a reduction in hours. For example, working four 10-hour days in the USA is standard, but that would not be included in our trial. Yet working five shorter days would be included as there has to be a ‘meaningful’ reduction in working time. Before the trial, many questioned whether we would see an increase in productivity to offset the reduction in working time – but this is exactly what we found. Many employees were very keen to find efficiency gains themselves.

Preparation and initial results

The trial design involved two months of preparation for participants, with workshops and mentoring based on the experience of companies already on a shorter working week.

In addition to the survey work, the Cambridge team conducted in-depth interviews with employees and company chief executives before, during and after the six-month trial.

This qualitative research allowed the researchers to go beyond surveys and examine how the companies were making things work on the ground.

The initial results showed how companies turned the four-day week into a realistic policy with multiple benefits. Researchers surveyed employees throughout the trial to gauge the effects of having an extra day of free time. Self-reported levels of anxiety and fatigue decreased across workforces while mental and physical health improved.

Key findings and impact

Key findings and impact from the four-day week trial include:

• of the 61 participating companies, 56 continue with the four-day week (92%), with 18 confirming the policy is a permanent change
• some of the most extensive benefits of shorter working hours were found in employees’ wellbeing. ‘Before and after’ data shows that 39% of employees were less stressed, and 71% had reduced levels of burnout at the end of the trial
• anxiety, fatigue and sleep issues decreased, while mental and physical health improved
• measures of work-life balance also improved across the trial period. Employees found balancing their work with family and social commitments easier within a four-day week structure. Indeed, for 54%, a four-day week made juggling work with household jobs smoother
• employees were more satisfied with their household finances, relationships, and how their time was being managed
• a total of 60% of employees found an increased ability to combine paid work with care responsibilities, and 62% reported combining work with social life easier
• the number of staff leaving participating companies decreased significantly, dropping by 57% over the trial period
• for many, the positive effects of a four-day week were more than their monetary worth. 15% of employees said that no money would induce them to accept a five-day schedule over the four-day week

Contributing to public debate

The potential for future impact is great. The trial is already contributing to reshaping public debate.

Multiple media pieces appeared in publications, including:

• the Financial Times
• Business Insider
• CBS and Associated Press
• the Wall Street Journal
• viral online pieces

Media pieces appeared in many continents and languages.

The University of Cambridge website covering this press release had over 180,000 hits six weeks after the release date, one of the highest counts ever.

With this significant national and international press coverage, the trial is already contributing to reshaping public debate and thinking about how work-time reduction can improve work-life balance.

ESRC supported the research team as part of the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit). The centre received an £8 million, five-year grant from ESRC in 2020 to investigate how digital technologies are changing work, including increased flexibility in how, when and where people work.

Of the next steps, Professor Burchell said:

We now need to go back and do a more careful academic study on the data we’ve got. So far, this trial has been in the private sector, and now we’ve had lots of interest from the public sector, including the Welsh Government and some states in the USA.

Further information

Discover more about the UK’s largest four-day working week trial

Read more about ESRC-funded Digital Futures at Work Research Centre

Find out more about 4 Day Week Global

Read about the UK’s 4 day week campaign

Top image:  Credit: UKRI, Adam Gasson

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We can make the four-day working week a reality – and make it work for everyone. Here's how

The concept of a four day work week has gained significant traction in recent years. How do we make it a reality?

Here's how we make a four day working week work.

The concept of a four-day working week has gained significant traction in recent years, as both employers and employees seek a better work-life balance. But how close are we to making it a reality?

What are its key benefits and drawbacks, and how do we successfully implement it to benefit both employers and staff?

• What is the four-day working week and how close are we to getting it in the UK?
• Millions of Brits think their jobs are ‘meaningless.’ Could a four-day working work week fix that?

Several countries and companies have trialled the four-day working week with promising results. New Zealand’s Perpetual Guardian made headlines in 2018 when it reported increased productivity and employee satisfaction after a trial period. Similarly, Microsoft Japan’s 2019 experiment resulted in a 40% boost in productivity. Countries like Iceland have conducted extensive trials, with more than 2,500 workers participating and reporting positive outcomes.

In the UK, various companies have joined the trend, with Atom Bank and Unilever running successful trials. The Spanish government has also introduced a pilot programme to encourage businesses to adopt shorter work weeks without reducing salaries. These trials suggest a growing interest in re-evaluating traditional work schedules.

What are the benefits of the four-day working week?

Research indicates that a four-day working week can offer significant benefits to both employees and employers. For employees, the advantages are clear: reduced stress, better work-life balance, and increased job satisfaction. A study by the Henley Business School found that 64% of businesses that implemented a four-day week saw improvements in staff productivity.

Employers, on the other hand, benefit from increased efficiency, lower absenteeism, and higher employee retention rates. The same Henley study highlighted that 78% of employees were happier and less stressed, leading to a more engaged and motivated workforce. Furthermore, a condensed work schedule can enhance company loyalty and attract top talent seeking flexible working conditions.

Are there any downsides to the four-day working week?

Despite its advantages, the four-day work week is not without challenges. One primary concern is the potential for increased workload during the shorter working days, which can lead to employee burnout. Not all industries or roles are suited to a condensed work schedule, particularly those requiring continuous customer support or operational coverage.

Big Issue is demanding an end to poverty this general election. Will you sign our  open letter  to party leaders?

From an employer’s perspective, implementing a four-day week can entail significant logistical and financial challenges. Adjusting salaries, reconfiguring work processes, and ensuring consistent productivity can be daunting tasks. Additionally, there is the risk that the reduction in hours may not necessarily translate into sustained productivity increases, especially in highly collaborative or creative fields where spontaneous interactions and longer brainstorming sessions are vital.

How to make sure it works for everyone

Despite growing interest, four-day working week jobs remain relatively scarce. Our study of job websites across the UK found that only 1.61% of jobs being advertised are offering a four-day week. This scarcity is partly due to the perceived risks and logistical challenges of restructuring traditional work patterns. However, the increasing demand for flexible working conditions suggests that more companies may consider this model in the future.

For the shorter working week to become a viable reality for more businesses, a strategic approach is essential. Firstly, clear communication and comprehensive planning are crucial. Companies should involve employees in the decision-making process, gather feedback, and address concerns proactively. Pilot programmes, like those seen in New Zealand and Japan , allow companies to assess the feasibility and impact of the new schedule.

Secondly, technology can play a pivotal role in facilitating a successful transition. Leveraging project management tools, collaboration platforms, and automation can help maintain productivity and streamline workflows. Employers should also consider flexible arrangements, such as staggered work hours, to ensure continuous coverage and support.

Lastly, measuring and evaluating outcomes is vital. Setting clear metrics for productivity, employee satisfaction, and overall performance can help businesses identify what works and what needs adjustment. Regular reviews and willingness to adapt based on feedback will ensure that the four-day working week benefits both employers and employees.

The four-day week presents an exciting opportunity to redefine traditional work patterns and improve work-life balance. While it offers numerous benefits, careful planning and implementation are necessary to mitigate potential downsides. By adopting a strategic and flexible approach, businesses can make the four-day working week a reality, creating a more productive, satisfied, and loyal workforce.

Andrew Fennell is the Founder & Director at StandOut CV .

• four day working week
• learning and employment

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Opinion: Is a 4-day workweek coming?

By Jay Evensen

Is a four-day workweek inevitable?

The answer, probably, is maybe. How’s that for a hedge? But one thing is sure: If it happens, it won’t be in the way Bernie Sanders would like.

Sanders, the senator from Vermont, is sponsoring legislation that would mandate a four-day, 32-hour workweek by making that the new threshold for overtime pay.

Did you hear that? He’s not talking about four 10-hour days, as some professions offer. Eight hours would be cut from everyone’s work schedule.

And, using the kind of magic only liberal lawmakers can apply, he would do all this and still require employers not to cut anybody’s pay.

But here’s a spoiler alert: Businesses can’t do this and stay profitable unless workers can remain just as productive in four days as they were in five. This may, in fact, be the case. But if so, the four-day workweek will evolve best from the bottom up, not because of some top-down edict from Washington. That process may already be underway.

Like the stock market, American worker productivity has climbed steadily over time. However, it has slowed recently.

Artificial intelligence has the potential to change all of that. Writing for the Brookings Institution earlier this month, Martin Neil Baily and Aidan Kane cited evidence that generative AI “can improve the productivity of less-skilled employees within an occupation or organization.” It is also aiding scientists and doctors.

“If AI can contribute to faster scientific advancement, this will add to productivity growth on top of the direct use of AI in businesses,” they wrote.

If that sounds a little too tame or dry, you might prefer the giddiness of Bill Gates, who last fall said he envisions not a four-day, but a three-day workweek in a world where “machines can make all the food and the stuff, and we don’t have to work as hard.”

Good news — unless, of course, you like making food and stuff, or if doing so is your job.

If you take this idea to Google, you’ll get a lot of great news about the wonders of a four-day workweek, from its effects on the environment (less commuting!) to its positive impact on workers’ mental health (less burnout!).

But, as the Albuquerque Journal noted earlier this year, there is precious little reliable research about what happens when the workweek is reduced. And what little has been done is inconclusive.

The paper paraphrased Anderson School of Management economics professor Subramanian Iyer as being critical of “anecdotal case studies conducted for a short span of time, one company here, one company there, and the evidence is mostly survey-based — surveys where people give their opinions.”

Meanwhile, in June of 2022, a Gallup poll found that people who work four-day weeks had a higher rate of burnout than those who worked five. Shorter weeks led to less “disengagement” from work but not much higher well-being.

That doesn’t mean you don’t want to give it a try, does it? A survey last month by resumebuilder.com found 80% of full-time workers said they would like a four-day week. Almost all of them said they could get their work done in 32 hours (of course they did). And, surprisingly, 21% said they would take a pay cut to make it happen.

I’m guessing most of you would not take the pay cut, but you also would be eager to promise to be just as productive if every weekend were three days long. But a lot of businesses would be faced with the need to hire more people to fill shifts, making the labor market even tighter. Wall Street isn’t likely to reduce trading to four days.

But make no mistake, if this labor-market revolution happens, it will be because of market forces, not Sanders or anyone else in Congress. With unemployment at 3.9%, companies are being forced to attract workers with perks. CNN reported last month that 30% of large U.S. companies are exploring the idea of offering four or four-and-a-half day weeks to retain workers.

The news organization quoted Paul Knopp, chair and CEO of KPMG US, who said, “We are all working to figure out what is optimal, and we will continue to experiment and pivot.”

That’s how business works. But take my advice and don’t book that three-day weekend resort vacation quite yet.

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Mike Walden: Will we soon have a four-day work week?

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by Jodi Leese Glusco — May 23, 2024

The common five-day work week has been around since 1940.  That was the year that the five-day, eight-hour work week became standardized by the federal government.  The legislation required companies to pay overtime wages for weeks longer than 40 hours.

Prior to the 1940s, companies were free to set their own work weeks. The move to a standardized work week actually got started in 1869 when President Grant guaranteed eight-hour work days for government employees. Then in the 1920s auto manufacturer Henry Ford brought the five-day, eight-hour daily work week to his auto factories, where he reduced workers’ hours but maintained their pay.  Ford concluded that longer work weeks yielded little benefit to auto production.

We may have entered a new debate about the work week.  Recently Bernie Sanders introduced a bill in Congress to reduce the standard work week from 40 hours to 32 hours.  The bill would motivate business adoption by requiring time-and-a-half pay for work days longer than eight hours, and requiring double-time pay for work days longer than 10 hours. The bill would also prevent firms from reducing current hourly pay and benefits with the shorter work week.

Sanders argues that some European countries – specifically Norway and Denmark – have already adopted work weeks shorter than 40 hours.  He also argues many studies show workers are happier and less “burned-out” with the shorter work week, and employers are happier too.

Why has this issue suddenly popped up?  I think you know the answer – Covid.  Remember the labor shortage during Covid?  Massive business shutdowns occurred, plus the federal government provided significant income support for furloughed workers.  The return of workers to jobs was slow.  As a result, there was more competition for workers, and businesses used incentives such as higher wages and better working conditions to fill their job slots.

Covid also made people think more about their lives and future. The term “work-life balance” became popular and motivated workers – especially young workers – to put more emphasis on their lives outside of work.

The rise of remote work has also been another factor raising the profile of the work week. How so? Remote work has allowed workers to spend more time at home, where they can interact with their family, integrate household chores with their work, and enjoy more flexibility to schedule necessities like medical appointments and shopping.

A final factor is the on-going prospect of labor shortages. The country’s birthrate recently reached a record low. If continued, this change may result in a smaller future workforce. With employers competing for hiring from a smaller number of people, companies will look for more ways to appeal to workers as well as to attract more people – such as senior citizens – into the workforce.

The conclusion is the power between employers and employees may have shifted toward employees in recent years. Offering a guaranteed shorter work week, but with the same pay as with the longer work week, is one way of attracting and keeping workers.

So, is a shorter work week a win-win?  Advocates answer yes. Workers will have more time to relax, spend time with their family, handle obligations like doctors’ appointments, and simply enjoy a better work-life balance. For two working spouses with children, childcare expenses will be reduced.  Also, commutes to work will drop 20%, thereby helping reduce traffic congestion and pollution.  Some studies also find less stress and better mental health for employees working fewer days and hours.

Advocates say businesses will also benefit.  Operating a firm four days rather than five days a week will lower costs.  Several studies have found worker productivity – meaning the amount of work accomplished per hour increases with the shorter week, so much so that some businesses will realize increased revenues.

But before you start shouting, “32 hours, 32 hours,” recognize that not everyone is on board for the shorter week.  Some studies report worker stress increases with the shorter work week as employees try to accomplish in four days what they previously did in five.  Critics also point out that if all firms go to the shorter week, the total amount of business transactions could fall and shrink the economy. If all businesses are, for example, closed on Friday, then how does that help families schedule appointments? Then there’s also the same concern as heard for remote work – the shorter work week would reduce the time available for worker collaboration, something that is extremely important in many companies.

There are two viewpoints about where the work week debate should go next.  One says legislation – like that proposed by Sanders – should be passed with the four-day, 32-hour work week being accepted as the standard in the country.  Backers say the benefits from the shorter work week are too great to ignore.

The second viewpoint doesn’t reject the shorter work week, but opposes having the government impose it.  Instead, why not allow individual businesses decide for themselves whether to keep the 40-hour week or go to something shorter?  Those supporting this viewpoint ask a simple question:  If workers and businesses both benefit from the 32-hour, 4-day week, then wouldn’t we expect them to willingly make the switch?

I look for the work week debate to heat up.  One reason is because of the emergence of artificial intelligence, which has the capacity take over many worker tasks.  In this case, the work week may shrink simply because there’s less work for people to do.

So, will we soon be working fewer hours each week?  You decide.

____________________

Mike Walden is a Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University. 

More From Forbes

Women are taking more mental health days. here’s how to combat stress and burnout.

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Lonely sad woman deep in thoughts sitting daydreaming or waiting for someone in the living room ... [+] with a serious expression, she is pensive and suffering from insomnia sitting on couch

Mental health-related leaves of absence have skyrocketed. New research from ComPsych , a mental health service provider, finds that mental health-related absences were up 300% between 2017 and 2023, and up 33% in 2023 alone. What's more, the research finds that this increase is largely driven by women. In 2023, 69% of mental health leaves of absence were taken by women.

In fact, time off for mental health is so essential that a Chinese supermarket recently made waves by implementing a policy that allows its employees to take up to 10 "unhappy days" each year. A better solution would be to create a culture and attitude toward well-being that the time off for mental health isn't needed. Until that happens, it's not surprising that companies continue to see an increase in mental health-related leaves.

Dr. Richard Chaifetz, a leading expert in mental health and the CEO of ComPsych, discusses the current state of mental health in the workplace, the unique challenges faced by women, and solutions companies can implement to better support their people.

Anxiety overtakes depression as the top mental health concern

One of the most intriguing insights from the research is the shift in the primary reasons people seek mental health support. For the first time, anxiety has overtaken depression as the top concern, with depression falling to the fifth position. Stress, relationship issues, and general psychological issues round out the top five. This shift, Dr. Chaifetz explained, might be influenced by changing social perceptions. "People are more comfortable saying they're anxious, given the current societal context. Anxiety is a much more palatable thing to report."

The data backs up Dr. Chaifetz's hunch. About half of all people are comfortable talking about mental health at work — though that percentage isn't nearly as high as it should be, but still a good sign of how past workplace taboo topics are receding. One theory regarding the increase isn't that things have suddenly gotten worse; rather, people are now in more psychologically safe work environments so they can speak up and take the time they would have previously been hesitant to request.

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"Now, people are much more comfortable talking about going to see a therapist," says Dr. Chaifetz. "In fact, it's in vogue. How many people do you see at a party talking about their therapist and discussing their problems? Even when we even talk with our customers, they'll sit in meetings with and just start talking about their mental health problems as openly as they would talk about breaking an ankle."

Another key factor driving the rise of anxiety might come down to paperwork — Dr. Chaifetz suspects inaccurate diagnostic labeling could be at play. "Relationship issues have always been high and often get coded in different ways, but when you get into the underlying issues, there may be a depression or anxiety that's driving the larger relationship issues."

What's driving the surge in women taking mental health leave?

The dramatic increase in women taking mental health leave perhaps reflects broader workplace trends in gender dynamics that have yet to be resolved. For example, the 2023 McKinsey Women in the Workplace report found that women experience microaggressions at a significantly higher rate than men, which contributes to feelings of stress and anxiety at work. The report goes on to say that women who experience microaggressions at work are three times more likely to think about quitting their jobs, and four times more likely to almost always be burned out.

Another hypothesis is that perhaps women are taking an extended break in the hopes that they can still salvage the work situation if they just have a moment to breathe, versus outright quitting. Decisions on whether to quit or stay in role are always challenging, but often by the time it's even a question to leave, some part of the subconscious has already made the decision.

4 ways to improve mental health at work

Given that recent research from Headspace found that 83% of respondents said that their stress primarily comes from work, employers have a duty of care to improve mental health. Dr. Chaifetz pointed to several organizations that have been recognized for their outstanding mental health and wellness programs. "We have an awards program recognizing companies with the best wellness programs," Dr. Chaifetz said. "These organizations are leading the way in mental health support, demonstrating that it's possible to create a supportive and healthy workplace environment." The 2023 winners include NVIDIA NVIDIA SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust , Gallagher, Bayer and more.

1: Resource your teams properly

Most workplace-caused stress comes from unsustainable workloads. Until companies fix that, the rest of the mental health efforts are likely to have a minimal impact (if any).

2: Show a more vulnerable side of your leaders

Have leaders share their own mental health journeys and encourage others in the business to share their stories, as well. Host a panel on mental health, where leaders and others in the business talk openly about their struggles, fears around speaking up, anxieties they have faced, and what their "aha" moment was for knowing it was time to make changes.

3: Normalize talking about mental health

Get as many people as possible included in the conversation, and most importantly, create a place for sharing these stories in a way that feels authentic to your company. For example, several years ago, Facebook ran a campaign called #OpenUp that encouraged people to share stories. It was underpinned by imagery of butterflies — a universal symbol of hope. Collect and house the stories that are surfaced so people can browse and feel less alone — and be encouraged to share their own, too.

4: Encourage care for others as part of your core values and culture

Check in with your peers. EY had a famous campaign – 'r u okay? — that encouraged colleagues to check in with each other just by asking that one simple question. Go a step further and create a list of conversation starters for people to use to check in with each other. This gives gentle prompts on questions people can ask colleagues if they want to check in — but aren't sure how to do so appropriately or sensitively.

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Watch live: st. johns county school board discusses removing 4 books from high school shelves, 2 river flood warnings in effect for brantley and columbia counties, jacksonville home prices overvalued by 30%, new research finds, local realtor says it might be a good time to rent instead of buy.

Tiffany Salameh , News4JAX Consumer Investigative Reporter , Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida has nine of the most overvalued housing markets in the country and Jacksonville is in the Top 25, according to researchers at two state universities.

Right now, homes in Jacksonville are selling at an average price of about $360,000. But researchers said they should be selling closer to $275,000, which suggests homes are overvalued by 30% . ( Read more about the researchers’ methodology here )

“We did end up having to pay a little bit more on the house that we bought, but it had everything that we wanted,” Jacksonville homebuyers Bryan and Kristen Leahy said.

They said homes were pricier than expected when they first began to search in Jacksonville and the market is still competitive.

”It’s still cheaper than California. So as far as he’s concerned, it’s still much better buying and selling in Jacksonville than it was, you know, trying to purchase a home this size,” Kristen Leahy said.

Of the 100 biggest U.S. housing markets, Jacksonville comes in as the 25th most overvalued. The Top 5 most overvalued markets, according to research, are Atlanta, Detroit, Cape Coral, Tampa and Las Vegas, respectively.

Researchers at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University analyzed the percentage difference between the expected price of a home and what buyers are paying to get those numbers .

“I wouldn’t say it is something to worry about. Because the demand is going up. And the house prices are going up following that. And that brings up the whole conversation about buying versus renting in this time,” said Andrew “Fletch” Fletcher, a Realtor with RE/MAX Blue Coast.

Fletcher said the increased cost of buying a home means more people are renting.

Data from Realtor.com said that renting a starter home is more affordable than buying one in all 50 metros, including Jacksonville. As of Feb. 2024, the median rent in Jacksonville for studio, 1-bedroom, or 2-bedroom units is $1,518, according to Realtor.com.

“It’s not surprising that it is there right now with all of the uncertainty in the economy right now. And that’s why short term-wise, I actually am going to go against some of my colleagues and say it might be a good time to rent versus buy. But it does depend on how long you’re going to continue to pay rent and not build equity,” Fletcher said. “Is this the best time to go out and look for an investment property to flip? It might not be because of the economic factors but at the same time, there’s a high demand for people. There’s a high demand to move into the area we’re standing in right now. And that’s always an advantage.”

Copyright 2024 by WJXT News4JAX - All rights reserved.

About the Author

Tiffany salameh.

Tiffany comes home to Jacksonville, FL from WBND in South Bend, Indiana. She went to Mandarin High School and UNF. Tiffany is a former WJXT intern, and joined the team in 2023 as Consumer Investigative Reporter and member of the I-TEAM.

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