4-day workweek advocates gain momentum as new study reveals 5th day is basically useless

New research reveals what 9-5ers have long understood: the five-day workweek is a waste of time.

A report from nonprofit advocacy group 4 Day Week Global found that employees can accomplish as much in a 33-hour workweek as in a 38-hour workweek.

Experts maintain the 5-hour gap is filled not with productivity but procrastination.

The report, the largest of its kind and the first to explore the long-term benefits of the four-day workweek, reveals that the longer employees maintained a four-day work schedule, the shorter their workweeks became, without compromising output or productivity.

Over 18 months, the 4 Day Week Global report followed workers in the US, Canada, Britain, and Ireland.

These workers were given a paid day off each week, but an identical workload to measure whether they could accomplish the same amount in a compressed time frame.

It turns out, they could, and they did.

The report highlighted that workers reduced their average work time by about 4 hours during the first 6 months of the trial period and that, within the same window, reported improvements in burnout, overall health, and job satisfaction.

Experts maintain that workers were able to shave hours off their average work time by eliminating time sucking inefficienies like meetings, giving them more hours to dedicate to uninterrupted work.

Those who kept their 4-day schedule for a year whittled another hour off their workweek and reported even greater improvements in their mental and physical health.

While the schedule was a boon for workers, it was equally beneficial for employers who reported a 15% increase in revenue over the course of the trial.

In a surprise to absolutely no one, a vast majority of workers (89%) voted to maintain the four-day plan, and, perhaps owing to the revenue increase, every participating organization agreed.

Previous studies have explored the short-term effects of an abbreviated work week.

In 2023, 61 UK-based businesses with roughly 2,900 employees adopted a four-day schedule for six months.

Revenue at the participating firms jumped by 35% during the six-month trials compared to the same period one year earlier. The companies also noted upticks in hiring and decreases in employee absences and turnover.

Workers at the companies reported major improvements in their well-being — with 71% reporting a decrease in burnout, 39% feeling less stressed than before the trial, and 40% experiencing less difficulty sleeping.

“There is truth to the idea of working ‘smarter, not harder,’ and research supports that well-rested, motivated employees tend to be more productive and creative,” Sunny Bonnell, CEO of branding agency Motto, previously told Fox News.

Bonnell argues that a 4-day workweek can encourage people to “prioritize high-value tasks, minimize distractions, and focus on outcomes rather than hours worked.”

A 2025 survey of 2,000 Americans examining lifestyle factors and attitudes toward work-life balance found that 69% of employed respondents think they could do their job in 32 hours a week. 

The same survey found millennials the most likely to support a four-day workweek (75%), with Gen Z slightly less enthusiastic (70%) and Gen X similarly compelled (70%).