Why We Still Don’t Have A 4-Day Workweek Even Though Research Repeatedly Proves The Benefits
It all comes down to money, but in the silliest way possible.
Jack Sparrow | Pexels Sure, a lot of our problems could be solved by simply being paid more, but when it comes to how deeply unhappy and burned out American workers are, a lot of things could be solved by simply changing to a four-day workweek.
That's not just a hot take; it's been proven by extensive research from both a mental health and an economic perspective. So why are we still grinding away five days a week, and five days that seem to be getting ever longer at that?
Why we still don't have a 4-day workweek despite the proven benefits.
In 2023, The Washington Post conducted a poll on the idea of a four-day workweek, which found that 75% of workers would prefer that kind of schedule over the current one. That's not exactly surprising, of course. Who would turn down a three-day weekend?
But the Post's poll didn't ask about four eight-hour days. It asked about four 10-hour days, showing just how much workers value the idea of an extra day off. It's even worth working longer days to them (though, as the Post's survey also showed, it is not worth a pay cut).
This is in line with countless other studies, as well as just general sentiment, if you ask your friends or look around online. It seems to be most people's opinion that we all need one day off for errands, one day off for fun, and one day off for rest in order to feel TRULY ready to go back to work.
Polina Kuzovkova | Unsplash
Nevertheless, the idea seems pretty much dead in the water in the U.S., which isn't surprising either, given that we are notorious all over the world for having one of the most breakneck work cultures on Earth. And it turns out that culture is largely the reason why the four-day workweek hasn't gained traction.
Concerns about productivity, labor protections, and entrenched practices have stalled the four-day work week.
To follow up on its poll, the Post dug into what underpins the resistance to the four-day week in the U.S., and it will come as no surprise that chief among the reasons is that a five-day, 40-hour week is just how we've always done things. Or it has been since Henry Ford first implemented it in 1926, when labor unions demanded he abandon the six-day week that had previously been standard.
But interestingly, today's labor unions are among those who oppose changing the workweek. A ten-hour workday, of course, runs afoul of the usual scheme in hourly jobs where working past eight hours gets you overtime pay. Many union leaders are loath to take that away from workers.
Tima Miroshnichenko | Pexels
Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, chief officer of the California Labor Federation, a consortium of more than 1,200 unions in the state, also told the Post it poses a safety issue for many union jobs. "In dangerous, hard jobs, after eight hours, it bears on your body," she said. "We’re not in support of contributing to that."
But more than anything, the resistance to the four-day workweek seems to be about the almighty dollar — in profits, that is, not pay. Business leaders told the Post that they worry a four-day workweek would hurt productivity, require staffing changes, and necessitate restructuring of how companies do things. The data, however, is not on their side.
Studies have conclusively shown that four-day weeks boost not only morale but also productivity.
Unions' labor and overtime-related concerns aside, the benefits of a four-day workweek have been pretty conclusively proven. In 2023, a sprawling study in the U.K. found that the four-day week lowered stress levels, had little to no effect on profits, raised employee morale, and lowered turnover.
Many of the companies involved found the scheme so successful that they retained it even after the study concluded. The turnover benefits alone are compelling: Staffing is enormously expensive for companies, typically costing at least 50% of a position's yearly salary to recruit, onboard, and train. But some experts say that's a vast underestimation, and that it actually often costs 3-4 times that.
More recently, the largest study of the four-day workweek was just completed. It focused on 2,896 employees across 141 workplaces in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S. The results were the same — soaring well-being, lower turnover, and even better sleep quality among employees. Most workers reported no change to productivity, though some felt they were even more productive than usual.
It's really not complicated to see how this all works. Workers are able to get more work done when they're not burned out, exhausted, and resentful about the fact that they're burned out, exhausted, and only have two weeks of vacation time. A four-day week isn't necessarily something that will work in every field or job, but broadly speaking, the data is crystal clear. The only thing standing in the way is American employers' refusal to listen to reason.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
