Good News! Science Backs Up a 4-Day Workweek

A new study from Boston College suggests a permanent four-day workweek may boost job satisfaction and well-being without sacrificing productivity. Researchers followed nearly 3,000 employees at 141 companies in six countries that made the switch to a permanent four-day schedule—with no reduction in pay—for six months, per Gizmodo. Comparing these workers to peers who stayed on the traditional five-day grind, the researchers found clear advantages: those on the shorter schedule reported less burnout and higher overall job satisfaction, especially among people who shaved off at least eight hours a week.

The study, published Monday in Nature Human Behavior, drilled deeper to explore what was driving these improvements. The authors point to three main factors: workers felt more productive, reported fewer sleep problems, and dealt with less fatigue, all contributing to better physical and mental health, per New Atlas. The researchers say these benefits persisted even months after the trial period ended. Lead authors Wen Fan and Juliet Schor say this kind of intervention is unusual in benefiting both workers and their employers, per Gizmodo.

While the team believes many companies could successfully adopt the model, especially in white-collar and service sectors, they acknowledge there are open questions about scalability, especially for very large organizations or those facing intense international competition. The researchers plan to continue tracking the effects of the four-day workweek and hope future studies will dig further into how such changes might reshape workplace culture and performance. They see this as a promising avenue for policy and organizational reform, with the potential to improve employee well-being without hurting business outcomes. (Bernie Sanders is all for it.)