Joe O’Connor and Jared Lindzon are co-authors of the recently published book Do More in Four, Why It’s Time for a Shorter Workweek
The five-day workweek was created for an industrial-era economy that no longer exists; one where fewer than 20 per cent of women participated in the labour force and where work was limited to fixed hours and physical locations. Today’s primarily dual-income economy with always-on expectations has created an enormous strain on family life, and it’s time to rebalance the scales.
Research and pilot studies strongly indicate that a four-day workweek can help Canadian businesses make meaningful progress toward their recruitment and retention, employee mental health and wellbeing, and tech adoption and work redesign goals.
All 41 North American companies that piloted a four-day workweek in 2022, for example, made the schedule permanent after reporting average revenue increases of 15 per cent and citing improvements to worker morale and productivity.
If adopted on a wide enough scale, the shorter workweek could also help Canada make meaningful progress on environmental sustainability, declining birth rates, and workplace gender equity — some of our most important and stubborn collective challenges.
A 2015 study, for example, found that a 1-per-cent reduction in work time resulted in a 0.7-per-cent reduction in energy use and a 0.8-per-cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. When the coastal city of Valencia, Spain, carried out a citywide four-day workweek trial in 2023, it resulted in a 58-per-cent reduction in nitrous oxide in the city’s air.
The four-day workweek doesn’t just take more cars off the roads and more workers out of office towers, either. Research shows that it also encourages more sustainable behaviours.
For example, in both the North American pilot and a similar trial in the United Kingdom, participating employees reported spending more time volunteering for environmental causes, buying more eco-friendly products and recycling.
That’s because intensive work schedules often lead to more intensive life decisions, which prioritize short-term convenience over sustainability. In other words, those who have more free time are more likely to cook rather than order takeout or bike instead of drive.
Unlike most environmental solutions, which ask individuals and businesses to make sacrifices, shortening the workweek could offer meaningful progress in a way that adds to our overall wellbeing and quality of life. North American trial participants, for example, reported 17-per-cent better mental health, 12-per-cent greater physical health, a 35-per-cent increase in work-life balance, and a 16-per-cent improvement in overall life satisfaction. Burnout rates, meanwhile, dropped by 17 per cent.
The shorter workweek is also being looked at seriously in places such as Tokyo and South Korea, as a strategy for addressing declining birth rates.
An aging population coupled with declining fertility rates has caused Canada’s population growth to reach its lowest point ever, and the OECD warns that declining birth rates around the world could pose “serious economic and social challenges” to future generations.
According to the pilot studies, not only does the four-day workweek make it easier for women to balance their career and home lives, but it also encourages men to chip in more at home, while reducing childcare costs and allowing families to spend more time together.
In the U.K. pilot, for example, men who were given a four-day workweek spent 27-per-cent more time looking after their children, while women spent 13-per-cent more time with their families.
Perhaps its greatest impact, however, is on balancing the scales in the workplace itself. By including caregivers with non-caregivers in the same company-wide policy, those with greater responsibilities at home – typically working mothers – are more likely to be seen as equal contributors.
In fact, many women are already opting to work a reduced schedule to help balance their career and home lives, but that reduction in time typically comes with a reduction in compensation, and reduced opportunities for leadership and career advancement.
A universal policy, however, puts everyone on an equal playing field, making it easier for caregivers to balance work and home responsibilities more effectively without sacrificing their professional development, and without requiring any special accommodations.
Creating a more fair and equal society requires a re-evaluation of longstanding workplace norms and a recognition that our current relationship with work does not align with our desire for more sustainable lives, sustainable families or a sustainable planet.
The four-day workweek isn’t just life-changing for workers and game-changing for businesses. While it can’t solve all of society’s challenges, it can contribute meaningful progress across multiple fronts in a way that gives people something of universal value, rather than asking them to make more sacrifices.