A recent study has revealed that a four-day work week may lead to more productive and dedicated employees.
According to research published in Nature Human Behavior, employees at companies that instituted a four-day work week, reported less burnout and improved job satisfaction along with boosted mental and physical health.
For the study, researchers conducted a six-month trial involving nearly 2,900 employees at 141 companies that adopted a four-day work week in different countries.
Researchers compared employee well-being at those companies with that of nearly 290 workers at 12 other firms that didn’t try out reduced work hours.
Results indicated that individuals who tried out abbreviated work hours reported improved well-being, decreased burnout and better job satisfaction than with workers at firms that stuck to the typical schedule.
Researchers discovered that workers who wound up with reduced time off during their four-day week still got smaller but similar advantages.
They stated, “There is a clear dose-response relationship for individual-level hours: greater reductions in hours worked predict larger improvements in subjective well-being.”
“An organization-wide reduction in hours can stimulate workers to collectively adjust and optimize their workflows, leading to improved work ability and well-being,” researchers concluded.
Researchers further stressed the need for more studies to confirm its benefits to access organisations and workers.
