*Updated 2026
For most of history, the five-day workweek wasn’t actually the norm. During the Industrial Revolution, workers often worked six days a week for extremely long hours, eventually leading to demands for reform. In 1908, a New England mill introduced a five-day week partly so Jewish workers could observe Shabbat, and Henry Ford helped popularize the model in 1926. By 1940, the 40-hour, five-day week had become the U.S. standard.
For generations since, that familiar formula has defined full-time work. But the workplace has changed dramatically, shaped by the pandemic, new technology, and shifting expectations around work-life balance. Now, many are questioning whether the traditional 40-hour structure still makes sense. One alternative gaining attention is the four-day, 32-hour workweek, already tested by companies worldwide. But could working less improve productivity and well-being? Or would cutting an entire day create more problems than it solves?
When it comes to cutting the workweek short, everyone’s opinions are working overtime!
Four Is the New Five
One Less Day, A Lot Less Stress
We’re living in a time when people are far more conscious of their well-being. Employees are no longer as willing to hide their mental and physical burnout in exchange for getting crowned “most committed” by their employer. In 2022, 4 Day Week Global, in partnership with the think tank Autonomy, conducted what was the world’s largest four-day workweek trial. The UK included 61 companies and around 2,900 employees. For six months, employees reduced their working hours without losing pay. The results were hard to ignore. Burnout fell for 71% of employees, while 39% reported feeling less stressed. Employees also experienced improvements in anxiety, fatigue, sleep and overall health. University of Cambridge researchers found that sick days fell by 65%. That extra day could give employees something the traditional workweek struggles to provide: more time to look after themselves, be present with their families, and return to work genuinely recharged.
A Perk Worth Clocking In For
In a competitive job market, offering a four-day week could give employers an advantage over companies still offering the traditional five. One UK survey found that 83% of job seekers considered a four-day week important when considering a job. For example, after Atom Bank introduced a four-day week, applications reportedly jumped 500%. A shorter week could also give employees a reason to stay. During the UK trial, 57% fewer employees left their jobs. This suggests that an extra day of personal time can be a valuable benefit, especially when higher salaries aren’t always an option. When employees gain more of their time back, companies may gain something equally valuable: people who actually want to work for them.
A Deadline for Distractions
A five-day week doesn’t guarantee five full days of productivity. Companies should consider how many of those hours actually produce valuable work. Parkinson’s Law suggests that work expands to fill the time allocated to it, suggesting that an extra day of work won’t necessarily produce more output. Then there is cyberloafing: employees spending work hours scrolling social media, online shopping, or looking at unrelated websites. This is a habit estimated to cost U.S. employers a huge price tag of $85 billion a year. The UK trial also encouraged companies to cut unnecessary meetings, reduce long email chains, and create more time for focused work. Revenue remained largely stable, even increasing by 1.4% on average among the companies measured. If four days can deliver the same results, a fifth may simply create more time and money to waste.
The Downside of the Four-Day Week
Not One-Size-Fits-All
As great as a four-day work week may sound in theory, many companies would struggle to adopt it. Hospitals still need nurses, restaurants still need servers, stores still need employees and care facilities still need around-the-clock staff. Reducing working hours while maintaining the same services could mean hiring more staff, reorganizing shifts and increasing expenses. Among UK employers that had reduced working hours, 32% said the new arrangement did not suit everyone. Another 26% said certain tasks required someone to be physically present. This also raises a question of fairness. Office workers may receive a three-day weekend while nurses, carers, retail and hospitality workers cannot. The four-day week could therefore widen an existing divide in workplace flexibility, creating what researchers have described as a “two-tier workforce.”
Giving competitors a head start
A four-day week doesn’t happen in isolation. Just because one business may adopt it doesn’t mean their competitors will follow. Companies working five days would have an extra day to answer customers, close deals, develop products and pursue new clients. They would also have more time to respond to problems or market changes. That could mean a better customer experience and potentially winning customers who are unwilling to wait. In fact, 82% of organizations in one study found that reduced availability for customers was the biggest barrier to a four-day week. In a highly competitive market, cutting a day from the workweek could ultimately mean giving rivals an extra day to get ahead.
The Price of a Shorter Week
Moving to a four-day week is not as simple as crossing a day off the calendar. Cutting the workweek from 40 to 32 hours reduces working time by 20% without decreasing salaries. To produce the same amount of work in less time, the CIPD estimates that productivity would need to increase by 25%. In the same survey of 2,000 employers, 66% said they would need to find ways to get the same amount of work done in fewer hours. Another 68% said they would need to rely more heavily on technology. Making those changes could take considerable time and money. Companies may need new technology, redesigned schedules, more training or additional staff to successfully maintain coverage. Even participants in the UK trial spent two months preparing, including workshops, coaching, and reorganizing working structures. For a large company with thousands of employees, a shorter week would carry a heavy price tag before any potential benefits are seen.
The Bottom Line: The four-day workweek forces a bigger question about what we expect from work in the first place. Is the five-day week an outdated tradition ready for change, or does removing an entire working day create more problems than a three-day weekend can solve?
