Portugal’s Government-backed 4-day week trial leads to 90% of companies reducing their workers’ hours
The study was jointly conducted by Birkbeck, University of London, Henley Business School, University of Reading, and the international non-profit organisation, 4 Day Week Global.
A 4-day week leads to a better balance between work, family and personal life, according to a government-funded 4-day week pilot program with over 1,000 workers in Portugal.
The research, jointly conducted by Birkbeck, University of London, and Henley Business School, University of Reading, and the international non-profit organisation, 4 Day Week Global, reported that the percentage of workers who struggled with balancing work and personal life fell from 50% to 16%, and 93% of workers wanted to continue with the work time reduction. A significant improvement in mental and physical health was seen in workers who took part in the trial, compared to the control group who didn’t have their working hours changed. Only four companies out of 41 involved in the trial returned to a 5-day week at the end of the trial, after reporting operational and employee performance improvements.
Research coordinator Prof Pedro Gomes, Professor of Economics at Birkbeck, University of London said: “This pilot has shown us that the 4-day working week is a legitimate management practice with many benefits for firms and workers. For firms, it can solve concrete problems they are facing today, including recruitment and retention problems, high levels of stress and burnout, gender inequality, absenteeism, and difficulties in managing hybrid working. But for it to be successful for firms, they must use the 4-day week to make changes in the way they organize work, by adopting new technology and implementing best time-management practices. The advantage is that they can count on the support and commitment of workers in those changes. We hope our work documenting how companies in Portugal designed a test that positively impacted workers can encourage and help other companies considering moving to a 4-day week."
Research coordinator Dr. Rita Fontinha, Associate Professor of Strategic Human Resources at Henley Business School said: "Like in other international trials, a work time reduction in the format of a 4-day week has a tremendous effect on workers well-being and work-life balance. As such, they value this benefit as if it represented 28% of their wage on average. As expected, women attribute a higher value to the four-day week. Perhaps the most surprising finding is that the 4-day week is more valued by low earners and workers without a higher degree, who have less flexibility in managing their working hours and fewer resources to buy services to free their time."
Companies adopted the four-day workweek in different formats and implemented various organisational changes. In 51% of companies, workers had one day off per week, while 49% of companies opted for a nine-day fortnight. Consulting, Science, and Technology were the most represented sectors in the study.
Before the pilot project, workers worked 41.6 hours (including overtime), and during the pilot, they worked 36.5 hours, a reduction of 12%. Of those participating in the trial, 67% of the workers were female, 55% were under 40 years old, and 79% had a Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD degree.
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