What's It Like Working A Four-Day Workweek?

It's inspiring, say three leaders whose companies are doing it. But that doesn't mean it's easy.

- Jason Feifer

At first it sounded like a crazy academic question: What would happen if people only worked four days a week? Studies were done, like a now-famous one at Microsoft in Japan, which found that (no surprise) employee morale went up and (maybe a surprise) productivity stayed the same.

But these days, the idea is sounding a little less crazy-and some entrepreneurs are already implementing it.

What changed? The pandemic, for one. Prior to the pandemic, investors would automatically pass if a startup was fully remote, says Brianne Kimmel, founder of Worklife, who invests in companies that improve the way we work. She was initially skeptical of the four-day workweek herself. But since 2020, she says, investors have become much more flexible about the work cultures they'll support.

Then, of course, the so-called Great Resignation changed things-forcing leaders to rethink what their employees need. Worklife conducted a large survey of Gen Z workers and found a noteworthy trend: When full-time employees were asked if they do some kind of paid freelance work on the side, 52% said yes, 31% said no but that they'd like to, and only 17% weren't interested. That's a lot of people eager for flexibility which could make the four-day workweek a competitive advantage for any company looking to hire entrepreneurially-minded people.

If the four-day workweek proves to be a successful experiment, which I believe it will, then companies will need to embrace this working style in order to stay competitive in today's brutally competitive job market, Kimmel says.