A growing list of countries has begun experimenting with four-day workweeks to improve efficiency and combat rising rates of burnout and stress among employees.
Although none have implemented the change nationwide as policy, many trials are ongoing in the private and public sector, and could inaugurate a change in how companies across the globe think about productivity, employee wellbeing, and workplace culture.
“The four-day week offers significant benefits for both workers and organisations,” said Rita Fontinha, professor of Strategic Human Resource Management at Henley Business School and a frequent researcher into the feasibility of a four-day working week.
Which Countries Are Trialing a Four-Day Workweek in 2025?
Newsweek found that three countries are currently involved in some form of four-day workweek trial, in which employees are offered the same financial compensation despite the reduced hours.
Japan
As of April, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has offered its employees the option to work four-day weeks under the 100:80:100 model – in which they will receive the same pay despite working only 80 percent of the hours, but are expected to maintain 100 percent productivity.
This change is intended to improve flexible working arrangements for Japan’s women and is linked to a broader push to address the country’s ongoing fertility crisis.
“We will continue to review work styles flexibly to ensure that women do not have to sacrifice their careers due to life events such as childbirth or child-rearing,” said Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike in December, quoted by The Japan Times.
United Arab Emirates
A public-sector pilot is currently taking place in Dubai as part of the city’s “Our Flexible Summer” initiative. Set to run from the beginning of July to mid-September, the scheme follows a successful trial from 2024. Two groups of government employees across several entities will have their days and hours adjusted as part of the program: The first will work eight-hour days from Monday to Thursday, while the second will work seven-hour days from Monday to Thursday, and four-and-a-half hours on Friday.
Portugal
A government-backed pilot of the four-day workweek is currently taking place in the Azores Autonomous Region. According to The Portugal News, the Azorean government believes the public sector trial will increase productivity and could be expanded to the private sector.
Rita Fontinha, who is currently coordinating the Azores study, told Newsweek that these ongoing cases “are generating important comparative data and show that the model may be adaptable across diverse sectors and institutional contexts.”
What Are the Benefits of a Four-Day Workweek?
Fontinha, who has been involved in several studies of the four-day workweek, believes the change contributes to significant improvements in employee wellbeing, as well as benefits for employers, who are able to better attract and retain talent, and reduce inefficiencies caused by employee burnout.
“For workers, we found improved work-life balance, better mental health (including reductions in stress, burnout, anxiety, and insomnia), higher job satisfaction, and improved performance—as reported by both employees and their supervisors,” she said. “For organisations, our findings show increased productivity at the collective level, as well as improvements in revenue and profit. These financial gains are linked to reduced absenteeism and turnover, and a stronger ability to attract and retain talent—resulting in long-term savings in human resource management.”
Recent studies have confirmed these findings. One of the largest trials yet, involving nearly 3,000 employees and 141 organizations across six countries, published its results from a six-month experiment last week. Employees reported increased job satisfaction as well as improved mental and physical health, without major losses of productivity.
A previous study conducted in the U.K. found similar improvements in employee wellbeing, with no noticeable decline in revenue over the six-month period.
And, despite the skepticism some companies may have harbored over involving themselves in these studies, a vast majority in both chose to keep the policy in place even after the end of the trial period.
B Lab U.S. & Canada, a regional partner of the nonprofit B Lab Global, made the switch to four-day workweeks in 2023. Members of the team that implemented this change told Newsweek that this had delivered “both quantitative and qualitative gains.”
“93 percent of our staff are reporting better work-life balance, reduced burnout, and 73 percent are reporting a stronger sense of autonomy,” they said, citing the results of the company’s most recent internal survey. “From an employer perspective, it has prompted sharper prioritization, reduced meetings, and boosted focus, all without sacrificing output.”
“If anything, productivity has improved,” they added. “The transition to a four-day week encouraged teams to strip back nonessential meetings and focus on work that truly drives impact.”
However, they noted that finding success with this change requires “thoughtful implementation and internal alignment, not just schedule changes,” and that widespread adoption will continue to be inhibited by “deeply ingrained assumptions” about work and productivity that are currently baked into corporate culture.
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