World’s largest 4-day workweek experiment shows no harm to productivity, improved employee wellbeing

A pilot program in Britain is proving that 4-day work weeks do not cause a loss in productivity, and can even increase productivity and employee wellbeing in some cases.

These findings come at the half-way, or three-month mark, into a six-month trial of more than 70 companies in the UK. Of those companies, all but two of the 41 companies that responded at the half-way point say that productivity has either remained the same or improved, while an impressive 86% say they’re either ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to consider keeping the 4-day work week in place.

The speculated benefits of a shorter work week are certainly not new. Other countries and companies, like Microsoft’s Japan division, have experimented with the idea but no study has ever been conducted on this big of a scale or across this many industries including banking, health care, retail, and marketing. 

Though some companies in the study, like Allcap, say it’s too soon to see how the study will affect the company’s bottom line, customers have not noticed a difference, and employees have enjoyed a healthier work-life balance.