Towards a four-day working week

Iceland carried out the world’s largest pilot project testing the four-day work week. — AFP

Iceland has just completed the world’s largest pilot project trialling the four-day week, involving more than 2,000 workers. This experiment has proved successful, and has reignited the debate surrounding a measure that has long been advocated as a way of increasing employee well-being and productivity. But what’s the state of affairs in other countries?

Working less, but better, by switching to a four-day week. The idea may not be new, but it has been in the news again in recent days, with all eyes on Iceland. This northern country has just unveiled the results of a large pilot study conducted between 2015 and 2019 among 1% of the Icelandic population. The idea was to propose a reduction in working hours – to 35-36 hours a week – while keeping the same salary.