Organizational Wellness

The Pros and Cons of a 4-Day Work Week

Last Updated Nov 4, 2024

Time to read: 10 minutes

Imagine everyone at your company has an extra day off every week and there’s no drop in productivity. That’s the promise of the four-day work week—a growing trend that’s catching the attention of employees and employers alike.

It sounds like a dream for workers, offering more time for self-care and family. But for HR leaders, the question is: Does this model actually work for your business?

Implementing a four-day week can boost productivity, reduce burnout, and even cut business expenses. However, it also comes with challenges like increased workloads and potential dips in customer satisfaction.

Ready to explore whether this flexible structure could transform your workplace? Let’s dive into the benefits, drawbacks, and tips for a smooth transition.

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What Is a Four-Day Work Week?

A four-day work week is an arrangement where employees work only four days during each work week. It’s an alternative to the traditional Monday to Friday, five-day work week. Instead, individuals are only expected to work either Monday to Thursday or Tuesday to Friday. They then get to enjoy a longer weekend.

There are variations, of course. Some employers spread those eight missing hours across the remaining workdays, creating a 10-hour work day. This would be a ‘four/ten work week’ as opposed to the traditional ‘four/eight work week.’

The Pros and Cons of a Four-Day Work Week

As with any policy, implementing a four-day work week will come with upsides and downsides. Understanding the whole picture can help you determine if this is something that could improve your work environment or if it would just slow your team down.

Benefits of a Four-Day Work Week

Employees

For workers, one benefit of a four-day work week is pretty obvious: They get a longer weekend. This is enough of a perk that92% of U.S. employees want to make the switch, even if it means longer daily hours.

What’s less obvious are the potential health benefits of a four-day work week. These include:

More time for self-care activities such as exercise and spending time with family and friends.
Reduced stress and anxiety resulting from long working hours.
Less risk of burnout and fatigue, common concerns in high-stress work environments.
Increased job satisfaction due to a more balanced life and an increased focus on work-life wellness.

Employers

The four day work week isn’t just an employee perk. Research shows companies can also benefit, including through:

Increased productivity

At the end of the week, most people are tired and might be struggling to be their most productive and creative. Burnout can increase as the week goes on, and on Fridays, too many people are focused on the weekend rather than on the fantastic work needing to get done. The four-day work week acknowledges this phenomenon and responds by reducing the number of required work days in a week.

Doing so can improve productivity. In fact, 63% of employers who offer a four-day work week found productivity and quality of work improved, according to a Henley Business School report. It might seem mathematically counterintuitive, but when it comes to work quality and output, four can be greater than five!

Reduced Absenteeism and Increased Retention

Burnout is at an all-time high with 77% of survey respondents saying that they have experienced burnout at their jobs, according to a Deloitte study. High burnout leads to quitting, and those that stick around despite burnout struggle with decreased motivation and increased absenteeism.

Proactively reducing your work week could be a strategy to reduce burnout and turnover and improve employee wellbeing. Seventy-one percent of employees with a four-day week report lower levels of burnout, according to a study performed by the University of Cambridge. On top of that, employers report a 65% reduction in sick days and 57% less employee turnover.

Reduced Business Expenses

Having people in the office less often translates directly into fewer supplies and equipment, or, catered lunches, break room amenities. Having one fewer work day a week can decrease that by 20%. If your organization pays $10,000 a year to be open, going to the four-day work week would save you $2,000.

Potential Disadvantages of a Four-Day Work Week

Talking about the four-day work week is very different from actually taking the plunge. While there are some major perks of switching to a four-day week, there are some drawbacks that organizations need to consider.

Lower Customer Satisfaction

Customers aren’t used to the four-day work week. Most people would still expect you to be open for business on Fridays (or Mondays). If they’re unable to reach your team, they might be less satisfied. On top of that, staffing effectively to keep customers happy can cost more.

With customer facing organizations, it could be better to stagger your coverage. Half of the team can work on Monday and the other half on Friday. If that doesn’t work for your company, consider actively publicizing your hours.

Increased Workload in Schedule Hours

The core belief of four-day-work-week proponents is that you can get just as much done in four days as you can in five. That sounds promising, but the reality is that less time at work means less time to complete projects. There’s potential for some employees to find themselves having to put in dreadfully long hours during their on-days to make up for the one additional off-day. If that’s not considered beforehand, that can mean increased stress and decreased job satisfaction.

To overcome this challenge, ask yourself, “What would need to be true for our employees to do all of the same work in a compressed week without stress?” You may find that different workflows, tools, or scheduling may need to be implemented in order to facilitate a successful transition.

Reduced Benefits

While team members work fewer days, they retain their same salary. Most companies do this to help boost motivation and happiness. Still, benefits could be another area to consider. Some employee benefits may be tied directly to the number of hours worked. Cutting back on work hours could put PTO and other perks at risk. The key here is to adjust what’s required to be eligible for benefits. Consider having these advantages be dependent on full-time status rather than hours worked.

In each of these cases, the solution is to take a look at the relevant information and determine what would work for your company.

Companies Doing Four-Day Work Weeks

A number of companies are experimenting with four-day work weeks, and the vast majority of businesses that try the four-day week choose to keep it. t A few highlights include:

Perpetual Guardian: Financial services company that reported a 20% increase in productivity and a 45% increase in work-life balance.
Buffer: Social media management company that saw increased productivity and happiness in 91% of employees.
Uplevel: Software companies reported an increase in employee productivity and satisfaction, with 100% of employees electing to continue with the four-day work week.
Panasonic: Electronics and appliance company that introduced a four-day work week structure in Japan in 2022 to positive changes for staff quality of life.
Microsoft Japan: Leading computer hardware and software provider that saw a 40% boost to productivity.

Organizations that Changed Back to a Five-Day Work Week

That being said, there are some businesses that experienced major drawbacks from experimenting with a four-day week:

Allcap: This UK construction company found that the trade-off for a three-day weekend wasn’t worth the more intense work week. After a summer trial with the new structure, they’re back to the traditional five-day set-up.
Citizens Advice: This organization ended up having to hire the equivalent of three full-time employees to keep up with customer demand after the switch to a four-day week. Because this has a call center, they needed more staff members to keep their customers satisfied, and that was a big financial hit.

Tips for Successfully Implementing a Four-Day Work Week

If a four-day structure might be a good fit for your team, there are some steps that can help the transition go smoothly.

Prioritize Communication

Clear communication is crucial when making the change. Your teams need to understand the expectations they face and how the new schedule will work. Providing sufficient notice and allowing ample time to adjust is critical in this process. Consider enacting this process slowly and having an open-door policy for people to bring their worries to you.

Schedule Adaptively

In many cases, letting your workers choose which four days they work can keep your company well-staffed. For example, some people might want Fridays off while others want Mondays. Allowing them to choose which works best — and adjusting for other needs — can keep your company open for business and give your team members three day weekends.

Lean on Technology

Using technology to facilitate communication and collaboration is another critical component of a successful four-day workweek. If you decide to have employees working on different schedules, you’ll want everyone on the same page. Tools such as instant messaging and video conferencing can help people stay in touch. Project management software can also enable employees to work collaboratively no matter who’s present in the office.

Don’t Neglect Your Customers

The drive to support employees and improve their experience is central to nearly every four-day-work-week initiative — but that doesn’t mean you can neglect your customers. Consider how the new schedule may affect customer service and adjust staffing accordingly. It may be necessary to offer extended hours or additional staffing on the remaining work days to ensure their needs are met.

Seek out and Listen to Employee Feedback

Consider gathering feedback from your employees to determine if the switch to a four-day workweek is effective and whether it’s actually improving their personal and professional lives. Everyone’s team will be different, so it’s worth asking how your people feel. Regularly check in with workers to gauge their satisfaction and make adjustments to the program as necessary. You can change anything as needed to meet your team’s needs.

Working a Healthier, More Productive Workforce with Wellness

Companies are discovering that a four-day work week can be just as effective as — or sometimes even more effective than — the traditional Monday through Friday schedule.

Still, as with any kind of major transition, organizations that are considering a four-day work week should take every element into account. Consider talking with all of your employees and stakeholders to plan your transition into this brave new work week.

Giving workers back a full day of the week isn’t the only way to support their wellbeing. Wellness programs can also help you take care of your workforce, reducing turnover and attracting new talent. In fact, 93% of workers consider their wellbeing at work to be equally important to their salary, according to Wellhub research.

To learn more about the business benefits of wellness, talk to a Wellhub Wellbeing Specialist today!

Company healthcare costs drop by up to 35% with Wellhub! (* Based on proprietary research comparing healthcare costs of active Wellhub users to non-users.) Talk to a Wellbeing Specialist to see how we can help reduce your healthcare spending!