The Four-Day Week
What if you worked one day less every week — for the same pay? It sounds too good to be true. But a wave of real-world trials says it might be the future of work.
Before you read
Talk or think about these questions first:
- Would you prefer a four-day week or a higher salary? Why?
- Do you think people work better when they have more rest?
- Guess: when companies tried a four-day week, did most of them keep it? Check as you read.
For a hundred years, most of the world has agreed on one thing: a working week is five days long. But that idea is being tested. Around the world, companies have run experiments giving staff a four-day week with no cut in pay — and the results have surprised almost everyone, including the bosses who expected it to fail.
A big experiment
In 2025, researchers published one of the largest studies yet. They followed almost 2,900 employees across 141 companies in six countries. The scientists reported that workers were happier, less stressed, and felt just as productive as before. The most striking result? When the trial ended, 90% of the companies decided to keep the four-day week. They said it had simply worked.
What the numbers said
An earlier trial in the UK told a similar story. The organizers reported that employee burnout fell by 71% and that the number of staff leaving their jobs dropped sharply. Workers said they had more time for family, exercise, and rest — and that they came back on Monday with more energy. In fact, surveys found that many employees said they would give up part of their salary rather than lose a four-day week.
of companies in the 2025 trial chose to keep the four-day week after the experiment ended.
How is it possible?
The answer is simple: most workplaces waste time. Companies that succeeded said they had cut long meetings, reduced interruptions, and focused on real work. One famous experiment in Japan reported that productivity actually rose when staff were given a shorter week. It turns out that a rested, focused worker on four days can match a tired one on five.
The four-day week isn't about doing less — it's about wasting less.
Not for everyone — yet
It isn't perfect. Some workers said that fitting five days of tasks into four created pressure, and the model is harder in jobs like nursing or shop work. Most people still prefer hybrid work — a mix of home and office — over any single rule. But one thing is clear: the question is no longer "Is five days the only way?" Experts say the way we work is changing, and the four-day week has proved it can be done.
Key vocabulary
- a four-day week
- — a working week of four days instead of five.
- productivity
- — how much useful work is done in a period of time.
- burnout
- — deep exhaustion caused by long-term work stress.
- a trial
- — a test or experiment to see if something works.
- hybrid work
- — working partly at home and partly in the office.
- a salary
- — the regular pay you receive for your job.
- work-life balance
- — the balance between time spent working and living.
Based on a 2025 Boston College study of ~2,900 employees in 141 companies, the UK's 2022 four-day-week trial, and Microsoft Japan's shorter-week experiment.
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Discussion
Questions
- Which fact in the article surprised you the most?
- Would a four-day week work in your country or your job? Why or why not?
- Report what a partner said: "She said she would prefer… She told me that…"
- What matters more to you: more money or more free time?
Flashcards
a CV (résumé)nountap to reveal
a cover letternountap to reveal
to apply for a jobphrasetap to reveal
to land a jobidiomtap to reveal
the career laddernountap to reveal
a promotionnountap to reveal
a skillsetnountap to reveal
a colleaguenountap to reveal
work-life balancenountap to reveal
a deadlinenountap to reveal
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