The 4-Day Workweek: Should You Try It?

Are you worried that your employees look anxious and tired? Are you concerned about losing your best people to higher-paying jobs at big companies?

We consult with clients constantly about the hiring and retention levers a small business can pull — more PTO, schedule flexibility, personalized anniversary gifts, and plenty more. But there's one concept that keeps turning heads: the four-day workweek.

Before you stop reading because a four-day week sounds impossible, look at what happened when companies actually tried it.

What the UK Pilot Found

61 companies and roughly 2,900 employees ran the largest trial of its kind, on what's called the 100-80-100 model: full pay, 80% of the hours, with a commitment to maintain 100% of the productivity.

The results:

• 56 of the 61 companies continued after the pilot ended, and 18 made it permanent

• Sick days fell 65%

• 71% of employees reported lower burnout

• Revenue stayed broadly consistent

• Productivity held

Retention and wellbeing both improved. That's a striking set of numbers for a change most owners assume is unworkable.

The Honest Case Against

I'll give you the other side, because it's real.

We don't yet know the long-term effect on productivity — most of the good data is still fairly young, and much of it comes from outside the US.

And there's a version of this that backfires: employees can end up more stressed trying to compress the same work into 32 hours. If the workload doesn't change, you've just made the days harder.

What I Think

It depends on your company and on what you're actually hearing from your employees.

A good way to find out is a test period. Tell your team that from June through August, everyone is expected to get their full job done, but the office closes at noon on Fridays. Talk with your leaders first about how that gets accomplished.

This won't work for every company. It might work for yours.

You will be surprised how excited people get about just four hours. You may be surprised by what happens to productivity. And you may see fewer people handing in notice.

I know it's one of the stranger things we suggest. But you won't know until you try — and sometimes being different is exactly what sets you apart.

Want to think through whether a compressed schedule could work in your business? Grab a free 30-minute session with one of our HR experts.