The 4-Day Workweek Trials that Showed Productivity either Improved or Stayed the Same

Another four-day workweek experiment shows data on actual productivity compared to physical days in the office. Corporate American executives will mostly ignore or argue the findings…because, of all things, fear.

“Researchers found that productivity stayed the same or improved in most workplaces, while workers’ wellbeing increased ‘dramatically’ on a range of measures, from perceived stress and burnout to health and work-life balance,” concluded the report.

The stats are fascinating, though they do not tell the root cause story of why corporate America, in particular, does not embrace these stats:

Fear.

Fear of loss of perceived control.

Fear of not being able to equate hours worked with actual productivity.

Fear of empty seats as being equivalent to lost revenue.

Fear of not being able to equate physical proximity with relational equity.

Fear of changing away from the dogma of what has “always worked.”

When we are rational (instead of rationalizing our biases) about this discussion, the following show us what could be if we would open our minds to a different belief around workplace productivity.

The reductions in working time throughout the trials were accomplished through a range of methods. A key principle was that the most effective strategy would often be unique to each workplace. A selection of some of these includes:
• More effective prioritization of daily tasks.
• Delegating and designating tasks more effectively amongst staff.
• Emphasis on performing personal errands outside of working time (with important exceptions, such as healthcare visits, etc.).
• Fewer, shorter, more focused meetings. One workplace decided meetings could only be scheduled before 3 pm, for example.
• Replacing meetings with emails, where possible.
• Reduction in time spent on coffee breaks.
• Moving services to digital provision, if possible.
• Introducing more Lean management processes.

None of these ideas are revolutionary; they’re all rooted in common sense. But they do represent being unafraid to try new things and push back on “but that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

Read the full report here, which is quite lengthy but also extremely comprehensive.