Every few years, the four-day workweek gains new attention. Psychologists and sociologists cite research linking work-life balance with health benefits and longevity. Economists posit that additional leisure time could lead to more spending. Executives say shorter weeks make workers more efficient. And these days, technologists say artificial intelligence can pick up the slack while boosting productivity.
As a CEO myself, I believe there are tremendous economic and social benefits to a condensed, more productive week. Still, I understand the instinct to wonder if the four-day workweek is realistic when much of the workforce is already struggling to get their work done in five days. Here’s why I believe the four-day workweek is both realistic and essential for succeeding in the economy of tomorrow.
The current state of work
In an April 2024 survey by Quickbase of 2,000 knowledge workers across a variety of industries, 58% of respondents said they spend less than 20 hours per week on meaningful work that drives results. In fact, 54% of respondents said it’s harder than ever to be productive in day-to-day work.
If employees are losing half the workweek to non-impactful activities, what are they doing instead? The survey found that 45% of workers spend 11 hours or more every week chasing information across different people and systems. This issue is often known as “gray work,” and it limits employees’ ability to get meaningful work done within a 40-hour workweek.
Nobody is saying that investments in technology aren’t worthwhile and that workers aren’t productive. For instance, in March 2024 the Office of Productivity and Technology reported that productivity increased 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2023.
I would argue that technology is steadily catching up to society’s desire for a shorter, more productive workweek. For the first time ever, a condensed workweek is a real possibility for some companies.
How to make a four-day workweek work
For a condensed workweek to make sense, we need to first acknowledge that the value of time is in how we use it, not how we mark it. Instead of striving for a four-day workweek, I believe we should be looking at how to be more effective while we are working.
Getting more out of the workweek, without further taxing employees, is about aligning business goals with activities and removing the barriers to achieving those goals. This often requires a shift in corporate culture, business processes, and technology.
From a cultural perspective, leaders should measure results and reward employees based on outcomes, not outputs. When employees are doing their best, impactful work, they are more engaged. This leads to lower turnover and burnout, greater productivity, and higher morale—which in turn should lead to bottom-line impact. For instance, Gallup reports that organizations with engaged employees are 23% more profitable and 18% more productive.
Looking across business processes, you may be surprised to discover how many individual and team shortcuts overlap each other. In this way, gray work creates more busywork and is one of the reasons employees lose so much time searching for information. Eliminate redundant processes and replace them with company-standard approaches, and employees will have time to tackle more strategic activities.
When it comes to technology, instead of requiring employees to work within the confines of the tech tools, the tools should adapt to the culture and processes of your workforce. AI, dynamic work management platforms, and low-/no-code tools can help reduce busywork and increase productivity. But unless and until workers and technology are in sync, the idea of a condensed workweek will never come to fruition.
The four-day workweek is not as simple as logging off early or being creative with scheduling. In fact, I believe the term four-day workweek itself can be somewhat misleading, because it focuses on the specific time spent at work, rather than the broader link between productivity and outcomes. Productivity drives outcomes, not time. Learning the barriers to higher levels of productivity that drive meaningful impact is what makes a four-day workweek more of a possibility. The path to a condensed workweek begins with a reality check on how work gets done now, where the bottlenecks are, and fixing them.
Ed Jennings is the CEO of Quickbase.
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