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Abstract: The Four Day Week: Economic, Wellbeing and Climate Impacts

In 1938, the US Congress enshrined a five day workweek, and that schedule spread to other wealthy countries. In the ensuing eighty-five years, there has been no serious effort to reduce the number of days worked each week. However, the pandemic sparked a movement for a four day week, in the US and globally. The pandemic raised stress and burnout levels for workers around the world, leading some employers to offer shorter hours as a way to address worker ill-being and the successes of remote work led to more openness to change. The emergence of AI is another catalyzing factor. There are now multiple governments around the world that are piloting or seriously considering four day week experiments. Since early 2022 I have been the lead researcher on trials of companies who are giving their workers one day off with no loss in pay. Our research shows large improvements in employee well-being, as well as very positive results for companies in terms of performance, retention and hiring. In this talk I will discuss the movement to reduce hours and our findings, and offer reflections on the future of this phenomenon.