Four Days a Week: The Life-Changing Solution for Reducing Employee Stress, Improving Well-Being, and Working Smarter

Schor (After the Gig), a sociology professor at Boston College, makes a strong case for a shorter work week in this vigorous report. Recounting the findings of her research into 245 organizations that implemented four-day work weeks without reducing pay, she notes that all 20 of the well-being metrics she tracked showed “statistically significant and often large improvements,” including better mental health and reduced stress. Schor also surveys less intuitive findings, pointing out that 20% of men reported increasing their participation in household labor and that 37% of subjects said working less improved their physical health because they could spend more time cooking and exercising. Employers benefited just as much as employees, Schor claims, and she uses case studies to explore the two most common strategies for shortening the work week. For instance, she tells how the Toronto communications company Praxis maintained productivity levels while working fewer hours by slashing meetings, and how the Italian restaurant chain M’tucci’s accepted a decrease in productivity because it was offset by cost savings from lower turnover. The robust research offers proof of concept across a range of organizations, and the case studies provide a shrewd road map of the different routes a company might take to a four-day work week. Employers looking to stand out in a tight labor market should start here. Agent: Melanie Jackson, Melanie Jackson Agency. (June)