200+ global companies swear by the 4-day work week: Here’s why it’s a win-win for employers and employees

For a workforce that constantly worships burnout and applauds employees who routinely trade their sleep and sanity to hit those "numbers," the four-day workweek is a dream come true.

However, what if we told you that it’s not just employees but employers who are reaping the benefits too? Yes, you read that right. A recent report by a renowned American newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, unearthed a survey that sheds light on gains at both ends. The study, which involved 245 businesses and more than 8,700 workers, revealed that even employers are profiting from the shift.The four-day workweek is not merely a pipe dream, it’s a practical, data-backed antidote to an exhausted workforce.

The transformative shift in work culture post-pandemic has peeled back long-standing assumptions, none more archaic than the five-day, 40-hour workweek. With mounting evidence that fewer workdays not only safeguard mental health but also fortify business outcomes, the world now stands at the threshold of a labour revolution.

A system built for yesterday

The five-day work week is considered to be a thing of the past, an obsolete strategy. Coined in the industrial age to stem factory fatigue, the model took root nearly a century ago when assembly lines, not algorithms, dictated the tempo of the work.

However, talking of today’s economy- fluid, digital, and mentally taxing is a far cry from Fordist factories. And yet, despite an unprecedented alteration in industry and lifestyle, the work calendar adamantly says “no” to evolving.“It’s long overdue,” said Joe Ryle, campaign director of the UK-based 4 Day Week Campaign, told The Guardian that “9-5, the five-day working week was invented 100 years ago and is no longer fit for purpose.

We are long overdue for an update.”

The data doesn’t lie

Economist Juliet B. Schor of Boston College, lead researcher with 4 Day Week Global, recently studied over 245 organizations in countries including the US, UK, Brazil, and Ireland, that piloted a four-day workweek over the past three years mentioned the findings in The Wall Street Journal. The results were resounding:

These pilots involved 8,700 employees globally and typically ran for six months.

Most employers saw not just sustained productivity, but improved bottom-line metrics, including higher revenue and lower resignation rates. So persuasive were the outcomes that over 90% of companies that began trials in mid-2023 were still following the four-day workweek a year later (The Wall Street Journal, Source 1).

The 100-80-100 model: A quiet revolution

At the heart of the four-day week movement is the “100-80-100” model: Workers receive 100% of their pay for 80% of the time, while delivering 100% productivity.

This model, championed by the global nonprofit 4 Day Week Global, originated in Germany in 2023 and has already shown success in Spain, Portugal, the UK, and parts of Scandinavia.The philosophy is not about working less, but about working smarter—eliminating unnecessary meetings, redesigning workflows, and aligning output with clear metrics.Tech companies have led the charge. Civo, a cloud computing firm, piloted a four-day week in 2020 and made it permanent by 2021.

Similarly, Kickstarter, which adopted a four-day week in 2021, reported a 50% increase in employee engagement.

What the workers want

Despite resistance from some corporate walls, employees are decisively and strongly aligning toward this emerging reform. A LiveCareer survey conducted in January 2024 polled 1,130 American workers and found:

In the UK, the movement has gone further: At least 200 companies have permanently adopted the model with no loss of pay.

This includes firms across technology, marketing, consulting, social care, and NGOs, with 59 companies based in London alone.

India: Overworked and overdue

India has long championed overwork, with renowned business tycoons floating the 70-hour and 90-hour workweeks. A notion of a day work week seems to be a distant thought. No wonder, the country also reports the highest levels of job-related stress globally, and its large youth demographic is pushing back against burnout culture.

If overlooked, this may lead to a talent exodus rather than an economic dividend. Unlike the UK, there is no formal policy initiative or widespread pilot in India yet. However, the global tide may soon touch the shores of the country. Whenever it does, the government and industries will be expected to equally shoulder the responsibility of maintaining equity across white-collar and blue-collar sectors.

The real victory: A life beyond work

To shrug off the four-day workweek as a ‘privilege’ is to fundamentally misunderstand its very purpose.

It is not just about an extra day off. It is about bestowing people the time to volunteer, care for family, engage in community, and rediscover self-worth beyond paychecks.It is about restructuring work not to dominate life, but to nourish it.The five-day grind is not sacrosanct. It is a saga that tells the story of the past. The data is in, the benefits are tangible, and the demand is swelling.Perhaps the real progress can be weighed not in the hours we clocked in, but how wisely we choose to pause.