Trends in

Cognitive Sciences OPEN ACCESS

Science & Society

Furthermore, research suggests that Glossary
How can a 4-day better-rested workers produce outputs 4-day working week: reduction in the time that full-
working week increase at a higher rate, are more able to engage
time employees spend at work to the equivalent of
4 working days, with no reduction in salary.
wellbeing at no cost to their ‘creative brains’, and make better, Compressed hours: change in working patterns to
more strategic, decisionsii [1]. Seemingly, distribute the same total number of full-time hours
performance? by embracing a 4-dayweek, organisations over fewer, longer days, with no overall reduction in
time spent at work.
1,3, ,@ can reap multiple benefits of a healthier,
Charlotte L. Rae * and Flexible working: flexibility in when, where, and how
happier, more effective and inclusive work-
Emma Russell2 people work, to meet individual and organisational
force. So, how can this be done? needs, but not typically including working time
reduction with preserved salary (see UK Government
flexible working options for employers; note that this
The impact of the 4-day week on list does not currently include working time reduction
The 4-day working week is gaining
employee wellbeing with preserved salary).
interest, with international trials There are now scores of international Part-time work: working fewer hours than a full-
reporting enhanced staff wellbeing working-time reduction trials, often num- time worker (who would usually work 35 hours or
more a week; see UK Government definitionvii).
and performance, despite spending bering thousands of employees, which Performance: observable proficiency and quality of
less time on the job. Here, we argue suggest that staff wellbeing improves a worker’s goal-relevant actions that can be directly
that improved performance on a when reducing time at work with no loss related to their tasks and/or broader organisational
objectives and valuesa.
4-day working week arises through of salaryi,ii,iii [2]. Such trials report reduced
Productivity: outputs or results from people’s work
two psychological mechanisms of work-related burnouti,ii,iii, improved mental performance (relative to the resources input), such as
recovery and motivation: because healthi,ii,iii, more time for restorative leisure ‘widgets’ made or tasks achieveda.
activitiesi,ii [2,3], and better sleep duration Psychological detachment: ability to ‘switch off’
better rested, better motivated from work, which helps reduce after-work rumination,
and qualityi,ii,iii [4]. Interestingly, sleep quality
brains, create better work. and enhances sleep quality through falling asleep
improves both during the working week more easily and fewer night-time awakenings.
and on weekends [4], suggesting that Services: how a person’s work performance affects
sleep-related benefits of working time the quality of end-user experience, such as client,
patient, and colleague satisfactiona.
reduction transfer to nonworking days. Working time reduction: overall reduction in time at
A 4-day week (see Glossary) reduces the work, across the working week, with no reduction in
hours of full-time employees to 4 working In part, improvements in sleep are likely salary; can be reflected in different forms of working
days, with no loss of salary. Recent linked to increased psychological detach- schedule, such as a 4-day working week, 9-day
working fortnight, or shorter days, but with the
organisational trials of the 4-day ment [5]. When workers cannot psycho- common factor of reduced total weekly hours at work
week and other forms of working time logically detach from work, they tend to with no reduction in salary.
reduction have garnered increasing engage in more after-work rumination.
societal interest, with media headlines This means that they are less likely to fall
announcing improved staff wellbeing and asleep easily and experience more night- may vary according to sector. In some jobs,
performance. How could a reduction in time awakenings. However, working time higher performance may be reflected in en-
time at work foster both increased staff reduction means that workers have more hanced productivity, such as more ‘wid-
wellbeing and enhanced performance? recovering leisure time, which helps them gets’ made or tasks achievedi [6]. In other
Recent research shows that the answer to psychologically detach from work, sectors, higher performance may be
lies in human psychology. enhancing sleep quality. reflected in better service, such as higher
quality of customer or patient care.
The 4-day week is not a new concepti. How- The impact of the 4-day week on
ever, post Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), work performance This approach, in which performance is
with growing demand for flexible working, Improvements to staff wellbeing from a maintained, or even improved, has been
the 4-day week is attracting renewed inter- 4-day week are perhaps intuitive to many described by the 4-day week pioneer,
est. By offering a 4-day week, employers people. However, reports that perfor- Andrew Barnes, as the ‘100–80–100’
are motivated to: (i) solve recruitment mance can also improve, even though
and retention problems; (ii) contribute to people are spending less time at work,
staff wellbeing; and (iii) promote the organisa- suggests more complex mechanisms. a
We acknowledge complexity in the varied definitions of
tion as a socially responsible employer There are many domains of performance performance, productivity, and service [15], but give here
(e.g., volunteering on the ‘free day’ ii). that can improve on a 4-day week, which definitions relevant to a 4-day working week context.

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 Trends in Cognitive Sciences
OPEN ACCESS

model [7]: 100% of the previously attained

performance, in 80% of the time, for 100%
of salary. This contrasts with compressed
hours, a ‘100–100–100’ model, in which
there is no overall working time reduction.
Instead, employees are asked to deliver
100% of performance, in 100% of the
time, now distributed over 4 long days,
for 100% of salary. The 4-day week also
differs from part-time work, in which em-
ployees reduce time at work, but sacrifice
salary: an ‘80–80–80’ model.

In many organisations, the ‘100–80–100’

4-day week can be achieved through a
combination of organisation-level
change, such as new technologiesi,iv, and
individual-level behaviour change, such as
staff eliminating extraneous or inefficient
tasks, including unnecessary meetings Trends in Cognitive Sciences

[1]. This enables them to make efficiency Figure 1. Two psychological routes to higher 4-day week performance.
savings and ‘buy back’ the time to be
taken off work. In some roles, such as range of out-of-work experiences can boosts performance by enhancing brain
those that rely on rota-based working, in- provide this rest on a 4-day week, with function, especially in neural regions
cluding healthcare, efficiencies can still two particular mechanisms commonly pro- and networks that are most sensitive to
be applied so that fewer staff members posed in work-–recovery models [5,9]: insufficient rest, but that are most impor-
are needed at any one time. However, in waking rest, including leisure activities that tant for workplace performance.
such organisations, there may still be engender feelings of detachment, relaxa-
financial implications for the employer tion, mastery, autonomy, meaning, and Second, better-motivated brains create
if the efficiencies do not fully cover the affiliation (e.g. hobbies [2]); and overnight better work. In organisations that seek to
staffing needs of a rota. Nevertheless, rest achieved through sleep [4]. preserve performance by finding efficiencies
there are likely performance gains in in working habits and policies, a 4-day
terms of better service, through a more Insufficient sleep impairs brain function, week requires behaviour change. For
rested and motivated workforce [1,7], impoverishing cognition, and reducing example, meetings can be shortened with
versus the potential health and safety emotional regulation [10]. Brain areas that strict agendas, time can be set aside
risks from an insufficiently rested one [8]. are most sensitive to sleep deprivation, for ‘deep work’, and distractions can be
such as the prefrontal cortex, are required minimised [1] (e.g. by switching off email
Why does performance increase, for optimal output and service at work, be- notifications). Adopting these efficiencies
despite working fewer hours? cause they underpin attention, decision- involves the effortful breaking of habits.
We propose that, beyond organisational making, and mood regulation [10]. The de- However, the 4-day week acts as a powerful
changes (e.g., adoption of new technolo- fault mode network (DMN) is also crucial motivator. Staff know that, to retain the ben-
gies), higher performance on a reduced for work performance because it underpins efit of working time reduction, they need to
hours 4-day week comes via two psycho- creativity and problem-solving [11]. Stress use their time at work wisely and thus are
logical routes (Figure 1). and insufficient rest impair DMN function impelled to be more efficient.
[10], but leisure activities offer literal ‘head-
First, better rested brains create better space’ for the creativity supported by the Employers occasionally ask, “couldn’t
work. Workplace performance is ultimately DMN [11], and recovery sleep after depriva- we keep the 5-day week, but get even
created by the human brain, a biological tion restores it [12]. Given that working time more done, by training staff to make the
organ with biological needs for optimum reduction improves rest via both increased same efficiencies?”. Having reviewed
function, including the need for recovery. A leisure and better sleep [2,4], it likely indirectly the evidence on working time reduction,

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Trends in Cognitive Sciences
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we believe that this would be ineffectual to baseline once the new working week vhttps://autonomy.work/portfolio/making-it-stick/
for the two reasons above: (i) to gain is normalised. A year on from the UK trial viwww.4dayweek.com/research
better brain function, increased rest is of 2022, improvements in physical health, viihttps://gov.uk/flexible-working/types-of-flexible-
needed; and (ii) behaviour change is hard mental health, and burnout had been main- working
viii
without a powerful motivator. Furthermore, tained, and 89% of employers remained www.gov.uk/part-time-worker-rights
v
studies show that work intensification on reduced hours . Similar preservation 1
School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
(i.e., doing more in 5 days) impairs individual of benefits was seen in recent USA and 2Business School, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
iii 3
and organisational outcomes, including Canada cohorts . This suggests that posi- www.sussex.ac.uk/psychology/abc-lab
wellbeing and motivation [13]. For such tive outcomes can be sustained, but more
reasons, it is also likely that compressed samples and longer timespans are needed. *Correspondence:
hours (the 100–100–100 model) do not Furthermore, since not all employers @[email protected] (C.L. Rae).
X: @NeuroRae
deliver the same magnitude of benefit to continue the reduced hoursv, a greater un-
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.10.014
wellbeing and performance as a reduced- derstanding is needed of which contexts
hours 4-day week (although it may still are not associated with improved perfor- © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open
access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.
offer some benefits relative to a tradi- mance and wellbeing [14], and the impact org/licenses/by/4.0/).
tional 5-day week). Where the ‘sweet of organisation-led policy on outcomes.
spot’ in human biology lies, for optimum The recent expansion of national-level trials References
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