Four-day working week may boost our health and performance at work

Working four days a week without reduction of salary seems to stimulate the health and satisfaction at work of employees – and can even help them work better at work.

The Covide-19 pandemic has changed how many people work. In parallel with a home or hybrid home or hybrid working for certain professions, some companies have gone to a four -day work week without reducing the salary.

To better understand the effects of this, Wen Fan at Boston College, Massachusetts and its colleagues have analyzed the data of 141 companies in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland which participated in a pilot program led by the global home company.

Before the trial, companies spent two months working with external advisers to reorganize their workflow and reduce ineffectures, such as unnecessary meetings.

After the program, which lasted six months, FAN and the team compared the self -deprecated productivity, health and work satisfaction measures of nearly 3,000 employees in these companies against workers of 12 companies who planned to participate in the pilot but who then decided not to do so.

Those who worked in companies that have come around a four -day week have reported lower burnout rates and greater work satisfaction, as well as better overall mental and physical health. These improvements have been awarded to employees sleeping better, being less tired and having the impression that their ability to work had improved.

“Many people are concerned about a process called employment intensification, where, if you need to finish all your work within four days instead of five, it could actually increase your level of stress,” says Fan. “What we have found is the opposite: once workers are capable of [reduce hours]They feel better about themselves and it helps their well-being. “”

The results applied at age, sex of employees or if they worked mainly at a distance or in an office. But the position of a person in a company can have an effect: the team found that supervisors have reported greater improvements to their overall well-being compared to non-supervisors.

The researchers did not ask the participants what was exactly the test which, according to them, brought these advantages, so it could have been changes such as the reduction of unnecessary meetings, rather than the pivot to a four-day work week, explains Lonnie Golden to the Pennsylvania State University in Abington.

“If people say that their well-being is higher, to what extent does it result from the fact that their business treats them better?” Whether they trusted them, that they relieved them this day one day a week or allowing them to care for several days for leisure, ”explains Golden. “Or how much does it just be more productive per hour and to have less distractions and interruptions?”

However, more than 90% of the companies that opted for a four -day work week kept it after the end of the program, explains Fan.