If you work full time, you won’t be unfamiliar with the feeling of your life consisting of little else but work.

It’s no secret that the Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 can be oppressive and, at times, unproductive too, thanks to the lack of free time after your additional ‘life admin’, including all your chores are done.

That’s not to mention your commute and possible overtime, on top of those forty hours per week.

As a result, hundreds of forward-thinking companies around the world have decided to take action, reducing employee working hours without a reduction in pay, as part of an experiment to see how such methods would affect a number of factors, including employee wellbeing and productivity while at work.

And the results – while surprising no one – were hugely encouraging.

In the study, which has recently been published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, 2,896 employees from 141 companies across Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, and the USA saw their working hours reduced.

Importantly, the employees were still paid in full, despite having their working hours reduced by up to 20% (many being allowed a four-day working week). At the same time, the workers reported on metrics including their sleep quality, burnout, job satisfaction, fatigue, and productivity.

When compared with workers from twelve companies that didn’t reduce working hours, the researchers noted stark difference across the metrics, highlighting the huge impact to wellbeing that a reduction in working hours can provide.

Impressively, the researchers noted a considerable drop in sleep problems in those workers for whom working hours were reduced, leading to a consequential improvement in wellbeing and ability to be productive and satisfied at work as a result.

So what does the future look like for workers?

With studies like this proving time and time again that the benefits of reduced working hours with full pay, it’s only a matter of time before more and more companies (at least those who care about employee health and wellbeing) note the significant, positive impacts of the four-day working week, as the researchers explain in the study:

“The results indicate that income-preserving 4-day workweeks are an effective organizational intervention for enhancing workers’ well-being.”

And for those that don’t believe in such an employee-focused reduction in working hours?

Well they may find that they’re spending more in the long run, since a happy and well-rested worker is actually a productive and proactive worker, meaning that what seems like additional wage spend actually pays for itself.

Your move, employers!

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