What Is a Four-Day Work Week?
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What Is a Four-Day Work Week?
A four-day work week is a schedule where employees work four days instead of the standard five, either with reduced total hours for the same pay, or by compressing the usual weekly hours into four longer days. The version most discussed in recent workplace trials is the "100-80-100" model — 100% of pay, 80% of the time, with an expectation of maintaining 100% of output.
Common Models Businesses Use
Businesses implement it in different ways: some close entirely on the fifth day, some stagger days off across teams so the business stays open five days a week, and some simply compress 40 hours into four 10-hour days without reducing total hours. Which model fits depends heavily on whether the business is customer-facing, shift-based, or knowledge-work oriented.
What the Evidence Shows
Trials in several countries have generally reported steady or improved productivity, lower reported stress and burnout, and better staff retention, though results vary by industry and how well the transition is managed — cutting hours without also cutting low-value meetings and process waste tends to just compress the same workload into less time. It works best as a deliberate redesign of how work gets done, not just a shorter calendar.