Four-day workweek - Who wants to work less?

The four-day workweek (4DWW) has emerged as a prominent policy proposal in contemporary debates on the future of work, productivity and employee well-being. Despite growing interest, empirical evidence on workers’ preferences for the 4DWW remains limited, particularly regarding how the costs of reduced working time should be shared between employers and employees. Existing research largely assumes that employers will bear these costs in full, leaving unresolved the crucial question of what contribution-level workers are willing to accept. This study addresses that gap by providing systematic evidence on employees willingness to support different cost-sharing arrangements for a 4DWW in the German labor market. Drawing on an early 2024 vignette-based survey of 379 employees, respondents chose between a standard five-day workweek (35 hours, full pay) and seven alternative 4DWW arrangements varying in weekly hours and wage adjustments. This design allows for a detailed assessment of the trade-offs workers are willing to make between time and income. Results show support for the 4DWW is substantial but clearly conditional. While employees accept compressed schedules or moderate working hour reductions, support declines markedly when wage reductions exceed what is perceived as a fair sharing of costs. On average, respondents will bear approximately half the costs of shorter working hours, expecting employers to absorb the remainder. Preferences differ systematically across social groups, including gender, age, and family situation. Furthermore, respondents express a pronounced preference for having either Friday or Monday off, primarily driven, apart from care, by the desire for more leisure time. Overall, findings demonstrate that worker support for the 4DWW depends fundamentally on perceptions of fairness in cost sharing. By highlighting the limits of trading wages for time, this study contributes important evidence to current debates and underscores the need for institutional safeguards preventing the disproportionate transfer of adjustment costs onto workers.