Switching to a four-day work week with same pay created happier, healthier, more productive workers. Really!

Let's switch to a three-day work week! We will be even happier! May we call this junk science? Why is Nature publishing such crap?

The lead author is a PhD student from Hong Kong in the sociology department of Boston College!

"Switching to a four-day work week created happier, healthier, more productive workers—reducing burnout and increasing job satisfaction, per the largest study to date of such an intervention that encompassed six countries: Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Ireland. Nature"

"Moving to a four-day work week without losing pay leaves employees happier, healthier and higher-performing, according to the largest study of such an intervention so far, encompassing six countries. The research showed that a six-month trial of working four days a week reduced burnout, increased job satisfaction and improved mental and physical health. ..."

From the abstract:

"Time spent on the job is a fundamental aspect of working conditions that influences many facets of individuals’ lives. Here we study how an organization-wide 4-day workweek intervention—with no reduction in pay—affects workers’ well-being. Organizations undergo pre-trial work reorganization to improve efficiency and collaboration, followed by a 6-month trial.

Analysis of pre- and post-trial data from 2,896 employees across 141 organizations in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the USA shows improvements in burnout, job satisfaction, mental health and physical health—a pattern not observed in 12 control companies. Both company-level and individual-level reductions in hours are correlated with well-being gains, with larger individual-level (but not company-level) reductions associated with greater improvements in well-being. Three key factors mediate the relationship: improved self-reported work ability, reduced sleep problems and decreased fatigue. The results indicate that income-preserving 4-day workweeks are an effective organizational intervention for enhancing workers’ well-being."

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Biggest trial of four-day work week finds workers are happier and feel just as productive "Compressing five days of work into four can create stress, but the benefits outweigh the downsides, sprawling study shows."

Work time reduction via a 4-day workweek finds improvements in workers’ well-being (no public access)