Will a Four-Day Work Week Become the New Normal?

Iceland underwent the world’s largest trial of a four-day working week, and it was met with great success – resulting in a dramatic improvement of workers’ well-being and a better work-life balance!

“The Icelandic shorter working week journey tells us that not only is it possible to work less in modern times, but that progressive change is possible too,” says Gudmundur D. Haraldsson, a researcher at the Association for Sustainability and Democracy. “Our roadmap to a shorter working week in the public sector should be of interest to anyone who wishes to see working hours reduced.”

The trial took place from 2015 to 2019 and involved around 2,500 people, which is the equivalent of more than 1 percent of Iceland’s working population. They worked 35 to 36 hours a week over four days, without a reduction in their salary. Since the end of the trial, changes have been made in workplaces, and so far, 86% of the country’s working population has more flexibility in their working hours. Unions are now at work to grant the rest of the working population similar conditions.