What Company Leaders Can Learn From Countries That Have Ditched the 9-5

What Company Leaders Can Learn From Countries That Have Ditched the 9-5

education
Get Paid to Share Your Expertise

Help shape the future of business through market research studies.

See Research Studies

Since the start of the pandemic, calls for a four-day work week have picked up steam. Many articles have been published with headlines declaring that “8 Hours a Day, 5 Days A Week Is Not Working For Us” and even, perhaps a bit prematurely, “The 5 Day Work Week Is Dead.”

But although buzz around switching to a four-day work week is mounting, so far, few U.S. employers are doing much about it. Incrementally, there has been some change. While just 5 percent of U.S. workers, according to a March 2020 Gallup study, typically worked four-day work weeks at the start of the pandemic, by late 2021, more companies were adopting these policies. 

Still, the U.S. lags significantly behind other countries in terms of flexible working policies, like a four-day work week. Instead, the overwhelming majority of employers have maintained their grip on a five-day, 40-hour work week “tradition” that, in reality, is less than a century old. Five-day work weeks, simply, are not the way things have always been done. And if one looks at the work-hour norms found in other parts of the world, increasingly, they’re not the way things are done today either. 

Below, we’ve rounded up 11 countries that have adopted, either at the national or private employer level, work weeks outside the five-day grind. And we’ve also pulled some statistics showing the outcome of policies like this, so that you can consider the case rested: As a company leader, a four-day work week is what you should be pushing for. 

Four-day work weeks (and related policies) in other parts of the world:

  • Spain: In 2021, Spain announced plans to pilot a three-year program in which all employees in Spain can opt to work 32 hours a week without losing any pay.
  • Japan: In 2019, Microsoft tested a four-day work week in Japan, giving employees Fridays off without a pay cut. The company reported that productivity rose by nearly 40% year over year, and in June 2021, Japan’s government announced plans to urge all employers to adopt this model.
  • Germany: In 2018, millions of German workers won the right to a 28-hour work week for up to two years before returning to their standard: a, comparatively, already more manageable 35-hour work week.
  • Iceland: In Iceland, about 85% of workers have the option to work four days a week.
  • Sweden: Sweden has experimented with giving all workers a six-hour work day.
  • Denmark: In general, Denmark’s work week is capped at 37 hours, with most workers ending their day at 4 p.m. The country is also known for its generous time-off policies, helping it to lead the E.U. in work-life satisfaction. 
  • New Zealand: In 2020, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, encouraged employers to switch to a four-day work week, and many since have.
  • The Netherlands: The four-day work week is nearly standard in The Netherlands, where most people work just 29 hours a week.
  • Ireland: Starting in February 2022, 20 companies (and counting) have signed up to pilot a four-day work week in Ireland. 
  • United Arab Emirates: In 2021, the UAE announced its adoption of a 4.5-day work week. 
  • France: As far back as 2000, France had legally mandated a 35-hour work week for all private employers. Now, there’s reason to think it may be shortened to 32 hours.

What leaders can learn from these policies:

  • At employers that have adopted a four-day work week, 78% of leaders say their team is happier and 70% say they’re less stressed.
  • 64% of leaders say their team’s productivity has improved, and 51% say that, after implementing a four-day work week, their business has saved money.
  • 70% of workers believe a four-day work week would improve their mental wellbeing. 
  • Companies that advertise a four-day work week receive 15% more applications.
  • 30% of workers have reported leaving a job because it didn’t offer flexible working options, and 80% of workers said these policies would make them more loyal.

The case for a four-day work week is clear. It’s time for more company leaders to act on it. 


Want more leadership advice? Find it on the blog.


 

Liv McConnell
About the Author
Liv McConnell

As a writer, Liv McConnell is focused on driving conversations around workplace equity and the right we should all have to careers that see and support our humanity. Additionally, she writes on topics in the reproductive justice space and is training to become a doula.

Similar Articles

Show more