The country of Iceland has released the analysis of its 4-day work week experiment and the results speak for themselves.
The trials run by Reykjavík City Council and the national government took place from 2015 to 2019 and included about 1% of Iceland’s working population, making it the world’s largest shortened workweek trial to date. The findings show that paying people the same amount to work fewer hours per week results in a happier, healthier workforce with similar or increased productivity. Who knew?
Will Stronge, director of research at Autonomy, a UK think tank that co-conducted a study of the trials, said in a statement: “This study shows that the world’s largest-ever trial of a shorter working week in the public sector was by all measures an overwhelming success. It shows that the public sector is ripe for being a pioneer of shorter working weeks—and lessons can be learned for other governments.”
So what are those lessons we can learn?
1) There’s nothing magical about a 40-hour workweek.
Most of the workers in the trial reduced their hours from 40 […]
I think most everyone would appreciate a four day work week and having more time to pursue personal interests and wellbeing. But Iceland is a country with a total population of less than 350,000 (less than the average size of a small US city). And more than one third of Iceland’s population lives in just one city. A footnote yes, but not very convincing “research”. On the other hand consider China, a country 1.5 billion (which is frequently recognized here in a positive light). The Chinese Communist Party promotes a “996” policy which strongly urges their citizens to work from 9am to 9pm 6 days a week, and frowns on those who don’t. Makes the typical US 40 hour work week look pretty good.
This could be one of the keys to bringing people back to work. I’ve been reading that many parents are concerned about child care, how it’s structured, availability and the cost. It doesn’t have to be a national change to start with. In fact, it seems like a way to empower communities getting together to create a system that answers their needs. Esp. while Congress is in a state of being stuck..