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People with a four-day week feel happier and more productive

13.8.2025

Translation: machine translated

Four days' work with full pay - can it work? The largest scientific experiment to date shows that the model could work surprisingly well.

Working just four days a week instead of five - with a full salary - can measurably improve employees' health and satisfaction. This was shown in a study published in the journal «Nature Human Behaviour» at the end of July 2025. After a six-month test period, almost 2900 employees from six countries felt less fatigue and enjoyed their work more on average.

A team led by sociologist Wen Fan from Boston College in Chestnut Hill followed 141 companies from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the UK, Canada and the USA that introduced the four-day week on a trial basis. The selection of companies, which ranged from social services and research institutes to IT companies, was not representative - they had previously volunteered with the NGO «4 Day Week Global», which organised the test run.

Working hours were reduced by an average of five hours per week. The changes were preceded by internal measures to increase efficiency, such as the cancellation of unnecessary meetings. Among other things, the extent of burnout symptoms and the job satisfaction of employees were surveyed - at the beginning and end of each six-month period. There was a positive effect in all areas compared to the control group of twelve companies that were interested in the project but ultimately stayed with the five-day week. The reduction in signs of burnout was particularly significant, followed by improvements in job satisfaction and general mental health. Physical health also increased slightly.

When it comes to the remedy of leisure time, the dose obviously makes a difference. The more the individual's hours were reduced, the greater the health benefits. Three mediating factors played a central role here: Those who worked fewer hours slept better, felt less exhausted and had the feeling of being more productive in the remaining working hours.

The results suggest that a four-day week can effectively promote well-being. And how did the companies fare? As a rule, they did not appear to suffer any economic damage as a result of giving their employees time off. According to Wen Fan, 90 per cent said they wanted to stick with the new model. Fan and her colleagues are in favour of further studies to substantiate the findings - preferably with a random allocation of companies to the test and control groups.

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Original article on Spektrum.de

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