The Four-Day Work Week, New Experiments Around The World Point To Wider Adoption

WARSAW — The world of work is always changing, in big and small ways. Sometimes it's the result of unexpected external forces, like the shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other trends, like the ping pong tables and bean bag chairs of 2010s tech offices, served to create a fun work atmosphere to convince employees to stay in the office, and stick with the company.

Other new practices are prompted by new legislation that responds to either popular or corporate demands. More countries recently have passed laws that allow for a four-day workweek to employees seeking greater work-life balance. And what began as a few pilot projects is slowly turning into a new norm.

The appeals of this new model are many. For one, rather than a part-time role, the “four-day, full-time work week” accounts for the same amount of work to be done in a shorter time period. This means that for the workplace it emphasizes productivity over extended working hours and independent work rather than drawn-out meetings. Trade unions have also been staunch proponents of the four-day week, as have a growing number of legislators.

But how does the four-day work week look in practice? Here are some recent examples from around the world:

Belgium: fewer days, same salary

As the first country in Europe to formally legislate a four-day week, Belgium is a pioneer of the practical realities of this new workplace phenomenon.

Since 2022, Belgian employees have been able to work four days a week without losing their full-time salaries or employment benefits.

The aim is to be able to make people and businesses stronger.

Like many other current workplace trends, a major catalyst for this change was the COVID-19 pandemic, and hopes were high that it would change a rigid and burnt-out workplace.

“We have experienced two difficult years,” said Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo when the legislation was passed. “With this agreement, we set a beacon for an economy that is more innovative, sustainable and digital. The aim is to be able to make people and businesses stronger.”

However, even two years after the measure was implemented, it seems to have had little effect on employee burnout in the workplace.

According to Belgian daily La Libre, citing a study by UGent, “the measure taken by the Vivaldi government in 2022 has advantages for employees, but has no notable effect on professional burnout.”

Still, some aspects may still hold promise. A University of Ghent study also found that those working a four-day week as opposed to the traditional five-day week were able to more effectively “disconnect” from work during their personal time, which had a net positive effect on their well-being.

Brazil's big results

While Belgium utilized a top-down approach to the four-day work week, providing a legislative basis for companies to act upon, in some countries, such as Brazil, companies have been independently conducting trials of a shorter working week.

The reasons for implementing this program seemed clear: according to a Gallup poll, the country is in fourth place in the ranking of workers with the most anger and sadness at work in Latin America.

In September 2023, 21 Brazilian companies, with a total of 280 employees, tested out the four-day week for themselves. Like in Belgium, employees were expected to complete 100 percent of their normal productivity, but with one less working day. They also received their full salaries.

The results proved successful, and according to The Brazil Report, “After nearly four months of planning and six months of testing” 19 out of the 21 participating businesses said that they “will stick with the model.”

According to UOL, the largest Portuguese online portal, 62.7% of participants had a reduction in stress at work, 65% reported reduced exhaustion, and 74% marked an improvement in their physical health. During the trial period, companies also noted higher productivity.

However, participants say that the scheme is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and that more work is needed to determine where and how it can best be implemented.

“The scheme may work well in some areas, but in others it will be necessary to hire more people," Pedro Signorelli, a management specialist, told UOL. "And this will cost more. So, we need to see how to address it via processes and technologies, for example.”

Balance in Poland

While the word “weekend” was coined in the late 19th century to establish the concept of Saturdays and Sundays as periods of leisure. In the early 20th century, legislation codified the five-day work week into law in much of the Western world. Poland only legally received the “free Saturday” (wolna Sobota) 51 years ago, in 1973. And, the benefits of the five-day work week being proposed in Communist-era Poland in the 1970s sound remarkably like those repeated by supporters of the four-day work week today.

“The decree in question is closely related to the new social policy, pursued since the beginning of 1971, and aimed at constant improvement of the working, living and recreation conditions of society,” Alfred Przydat, member of the Sejm of the Polish People's Republic, and rapporteur of the Committee on Labor and Social Affairs, explained in 1973, after the passing of the new law.

I have one life.

But even this process was not instant. According to Polskie Radio, “In 1973, Poles had a total of two Saturdays off, a year later six, and starting from 1975 there were 12 weekends off. In 1981, a working time standard of 42 hours a week was introduced”.

It may therefore seem surprising that Poland, which was so late to the standard work week we know today, is now experimenting with the four-day week ahead of many others.

The result? Fridays off stuck.

The new options are a response to the many workers in Poland who say that they are looking to prioritize their personal lives. “I have one life. I simply regret devoting it to work. I want to have time. This is the greatest luxury today," Monika, a 45-year-old accountant, told Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza. In October, she told her boss that she wanted to work less.

However, unlike in Belgium, the Poles asking for a shorter week have lower compensation than they would for five-day, full-time work. Unless they belong to a select group of companies piloting four-day norms.

Pigeon Studio, a Krakow company that creates advertising animations, introduced a four-day work week in February this year. First, there was a four-month trial, because the project usually lasts up to a quarter, and the company wanted to check whether it could cope with working with free Fridays at each stage.

The result? Fridays off stuck.

“We have been thinking for a long time about limiting working time and going beyond the 40-hour schedule," says Dawid Gaweł from Pigeon Studio. "We started conversations and abandoned them. And so on for a year or two. Finally, it was February 2024 and a system in which we all work on specific four days of the week.”