Recent news articles have highlighted the change to four day work weeks for some in Iceland. While this is news to the rest of the world, this study has been long-going with trials documented from 2015 to 2019 and most recently, in 2020 until 2022 where 51% of workers in the country were offered and accepted working four days of the week with no loss in pay. Last year it was reported that Iceland had the fastest economic growth out of the European countries and also has one of the lowest unemployment rates. Iceland’s economy expanded by 5% in 2023. From 2015 to 2019, more than 1% of Iceland’s working population participated in this experiment with the goal to increase and maintain productivity while also trying to improve work-life balance. The results showed that productivity improved in most workplaces or stayed the same–but did not decrease. Workers well-being also improved and many who participated in the experiment have said that their stress and burnout have decreased.
There have been similar experiments implemented around the world, all trying to see the results of what it is like to switch to a four day work week. One notable trial that was successful was in 2022 that included 33 companies, the majority in the United States and Ireland. Despite this success, the majority of companies in the U.S. require their employees to work 40 hour weeks. Work culture in the U.S. is shifting towards giving their employees a little more freedom by continuing to maintain the “working from home” model that was introduced during the 2020 pandemic. However, Amazon recently announced that it is requiring their employees to come back into the office five days (as opposed to the current three days in person) a week starting in the new year, in an effort to preserve the company’s culture. This decision will affect more than 350,000 employees and regulations set during work days are said to be strict. We will have to wait and see how this change impacts workers and if the transition back into the office changes productivity levels of workers now that they will be in the office full time.
Read the full story about Iceland and their shorter work week here