The stunning success of the four-day workweek

Shorter working hours in Iceland breakthrough. The organizers said their experiment was a terrific success. About 2,500 people from all walks of life switched to a 35-hour work week without a pay cut. The participants’ performance remained the same or improved. Scientists believe this is an incredible result.



The idea of a reduced working week was presented by trade unions. The government of the country and the city of Reykjavik (the capital of Iceland) supported this initiative. Trade union representatives argued the proposal as follows: Iceland lags behind its Nordic neighbours in terms of workweek. For example, Norway and Denmark already work only 37.5 hours a week, compared to 37 in Finland.

Initially, several dozen employees from two organizations took part in the experiment. As a result, the number of people increased to 2,500. Other institutions have joined: for example, preschool, museum, police and medical. Moreover, the researchers not only selected employees with a regular schedule (from 9:00 to 17:00), but also considered more non-standard shifts at the enterprises.



The study of Icelandic scientists took place in two stages. The first one lasted from 2015 to 2017 and gradually attracted 2,500 people. The second phase began in 2017. Another 440 employees from different industries took part in it. In total, more than 1% of the working-age population of Iceland participated in the experiment.

The rules were the same: participants switched from a 40-hour workweek to a 35-36-hour workweek. However, it has continued.full-wage. Scientists have noticed how after this innovation improved the psycho-emotional state of employees of participating companies. Undoubtedly, the level of stress and professional burnout decreased significantly. Employees began to organize their time more correctly and, undoubtedly, effectively delegate the necessary tasks.



The results have enabled Icelandic trade union organisations to achieve revision for the population, citing the positive results of the study. Already, 86% of workers have successfully introduced a shortened working week or are considering its implementation.



One of the organizers Will Strong comments on the study: “This is the world’s largest experiment to shorten the working week, and it’s been a stunning success.” The results are pleasantly surprising and demonstrate that other governments can benefit from Iceland’s successful experience in implementing such a principle on their territory.”



We are talking about a shortened working week in different countries of the world for quite a long time. For example, in Germany, Spain, New Zealand. Spanish authorities say they are seriously considering full implementation system like that. They plan to do so soon. For example, due to coronavirus restrictions, some Spanish companies already worked only 4 days a week.



Previous articleSuccessful experiment of Icelanders proved that a shorter working week will add More time for your own hobbiesChildren, privacy. Research like this is extremely exciting, because this is how we understand the importance of work-life balance. We hope that the experience of Scandinavian friends will be extremely useful for all countries of the world.