Still, there was understandable skepticism about whether the trial would be a flash in the pan that led to companies slowly ushering their staffers back into a five-day week once the pageantry ended.

But one year on, it looks like the results have been enough to make it stick among employers.

More than 60 companies and nearly 3,000 workers agreed to take on a four-day week as part of a mammoth trial carried out by academics and research group Autonomy to investigate the productivity benefits of compressed working hours.

There was flexibility around how the trial was operated, provided companies partook in the 100:80:100 principle, whereby staff received 100% of their original pay for 80% of hours worked while delivering 100% productivity. 

Indeed, many companies shunned the archetypal “Friday off” model, trialing alternatives like staggered time off and decentralized systems where different departments within a company set individual goals to qualify for the four-day week.

Four-day-week trial converts skeptics

The initial findings, published last year, were hugely promising. 

Employees’ levels of well-being shot through the roof, with seven out of 10 workers reporting a drop in their levels of burnout, and 39% saying they were less stressed.

Most employees found it easier to care for their children and had a more fulfilling social life outside of work. 

Businesses benefitted too, increasing revenues and enjoying a massive spike in retention rates during the period often labeled the Great Resignation.

A year on, it seems the trial convinced employers that a four-day week could be a long-term solution.

Autonomy found that 89% of companies on the trial were still operating over four days instead of five, while 51% had decided to make the switch a permanent one.

“A number of interlinking factors are disarming skepticism and moving the shorter working week from an attractive, if abstract, ideal, to a plausible, realizable alternative across the economy,” Autonomy said in its introduction to last year’s report.

“The key point is that the strong findings at six months are not due to novelty or short-term impacts,” said professor Julier Schor from the Boston College research team after the one-year look back dropped. 

“These effects are real and long-lasting.” 

Obstacles remain

However, while there will never be any one-size-fits-all approach to creating a four-day week across the economy, it still looks like a pipe dream for many organizations. 

Workers in the marketing and advertising sector made up nearly a third of Autonomy’s trial group, with other sectors tied to performance-related targets like entertainment and finance also heavily represented.

Industries more dependent on unit-based output and reliant on operating machinery, like manufacturing and construction, often argue they would struggle to reduce their working hours without a noticeable decline in output. 

Combined, these two sectors represented just 11% of employees who took part in Autonomy’s trial.

Even in the sectors that might be better associated with successfully adapting to a four-day week, it hasn’t always been plain sailing.

Last week, telecom giant Deutsche Telekom released the results of a four-day week trial for its 300 Hungarian employees. 

While there were initial benefits to the 18-month pilot that started in June 2022, the group found these waned over time and workers ultimately became less efficient at their jobs. 

“In light of the results, we shall continue to work according to the traditional work schedule, but going forward we look for new solutions that support work-life balance and the satisfaction of colleagues,” Magyar Telekom CEO Tibor Rékasi said in a statement.