IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nathum/v9y2025i10d10.1038_s41562-025-02259-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Work time reduction via a 4-day workweek finds improvements in workers’ well-being

Author

Listed:
  • Wen Fan

    (Boston College)

  • Juliet B. Schor

    (Boston College)

  • Orla Kelly

    (University College Dublin)

  • Guolin Gu

    (Boston College)

Abstract

Time spent on the job is a fundamental aspect of working conditions that influences many facets of individuals’ lives. Here we study how an organization-wide 4-day workweek intervention—with no reduction in pay—affects workers’ well-being. Organizations undergo pre-trial work reorganization to improve efficiency and collaboration, followed by a 6-month trial. Analysis of pre- and post-trial data from 2,896 employees across 141 organizations in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the USA shows improvements in burnout, job satisfaction, mental health and physical health—a pattern not observed in 12 control companies. Both company-level and individual-level reductions in hours are correlated with well-being gains, with larger individual-level (but not company-level) reductions associated with greater improvements in well-being. Three key factors mediate the relationship: improved self-reported work ability, reduced sleep problems and decreased fatigue. The results indicate that income-preserving 4-day workweeks are an effective organizational intervention for enhancing workers’ well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Wen Fan & Juliet B. Schor & Orla Kelly & Guolin Gu, 2025. "Work time reduction via a 4-day workweek finds improvements in workers’ well-being," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 9(10), pages 2153-2168, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:9:y:2025:i:10:d:10.1038_s41562-025-02259-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02259-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-025-02259-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41562-025-02259-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:9:y:2025:i:10:d:10.1038_s41562-025-02259-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.