Findings from the first large-scale, cross-national trial of organisation-wide four-day work weeks reveal significant improvements in multiple factors of employee well-being, and improved efficiency and collaboration.
Before reducing work hours, the surveyed companies reorganised work to maintain productivity and improve efficiency and collaboration, such as by reducing low- and zero-value activities like unnecessary meetings.
Researchers from Boston College's Department of Sociology in the US began the trials in early 2022 with more than 211 businesses and 7,200 employees from Canada, USA, Continental Europe, Ireland, UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The study evaluated changes in a range of well-being outcomes—burnout, job satisfaction, positive affect, mental health, and physical health—from before and after the six-month trial period.
The focus on work time is critical, given the pervasive influence it has on various aspects of individuals’ lives, and the organisation-wide nature of the intervention is important, as previous studies of individual time reduction accommodations have not shown strong links between reduced hours and improved well-being.
Previous studies have focused on long work hours, such as 50 hours and above, and have shown that long working hours activate a health impairment process, depleting employees’ physical, emotional and cognitive resources. The weekly hours in this study’s sample were 40 hours before the trial, reduced to 32 hours after the trial, suggesting that the well-being benefits of work time reductions are not limited to workers with excessively long hours.
In addition, this study suggested the possibility that preferences are related to and influenced by, actual hours - in other words, preferred schedules may adapt to actual schedules. Study results show a strong post-trial unwillingness to return to a five-day workweek. More than 95% of the study respondents prefer a four-day workweek, and the median required salary increase to consider a future five-day workweek is 26-50%.
The increased employee loyalty that results from such workplace improvement is invaluable. Employees feel secure and valued, and companies enjoy the savings and benefits that accrue from the retention of experienced employees and the reduction in recruitment and re-training expenses.
Feedback from participants showed that reduced work hours are associated with desirable changes in almost all of the theorised mediators. These include increased perceived work ability, work autonomy, and exercise frequency, along with reduced work intensity, sleep problems, and fatigue. These positive changes were largely expected, given that the work reorganisation process prior to the study challenged the entire organisation and its members to improve efficiency and collaboration, potentially opening the door to a wide set of positive changes in how work is done.
The researchers observed significant mediation with factors contributing most to the well-being effects of reduced working hours: perceived work ability, sleep problems, and fatigue. While sleep problems and fatigue have received much attention in previous studies on work hours and well-being, perceived work ability has not been adequately studied, and its connection to work time reduction has not been previously shown.
This study found a substantial increase in perceived ability to work with the shift to a four-day workweek, which benefits well-being. This result represents an important addition to the job demands-resources model, highlighting that an organisation-wide reduction in job demands can stimulate workers to adjust and optimise their work processes (job crafting), leading to improved perceived work ability and well-being. Given the dual benefits of perceived productivity and well-being, removing constraints on work time is a promising avenue for the future of work.
Read more: Worktime-Reduction-and-Workers-Well-Being-2023-12-16-4DW_wellbeing.pdf