Four-Day Week Trial Cuts Burnout and Lifts Morale in Six-Nation Study

A peer-reviewed study published in Nature Human Behaviour finds that compressing the working week to four days with no loss of pay markedly improves employee well-being. Researchers from Boston College and University College Dublin tracked 2,896 workers at 141 organisations across six countries over a six-month period in a pilot run by the non-profit 4 Day Week Global. Compared with a control group of 285 workers at 12 firms that maintained a traditional schedule, participants reported significant reductions in burnout and fatigue alongside gains in job satisfaction, mental health and overall physical health. The largest improvements were recorded among staff who cut at least eight hours from their weekly workload. Self-assessed work ability—a proxy for productivity—also rose, suggesting that shorter hours did not undermine output after companies streamlined meetings and other low-value tasks. More than 90% of employers retained the four-day pattern once the trial ended, according to follow-up data. The authors say the findings strengthen the public-health and business case for reducing hours but caution that scalability in very large or highly competitive manufacturing firms remains to be tested. They plan further research on long-term performance metrics and organisational culture under condensed schedules.