Should a Four-Day Workweek Be Adopted? Four-day workweek. (more) The Four-Day Workweek Should a Four-Day Workweek Be Adopted? (Quick Take) Ask the Chatbot a Question More Actions Print print Print Please select which sections you would like to print: Table Of Contents Cite verifiedCite While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Select Citation Style MLA APA Chicago Manual of Style Copy Citation Share Share Share to social media Facebook X URL https://www.britannica.com/procon/four-day-workweek-debate Feedback Feedback Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Feedback Type Select a type (Required) Factual Correction Spelling/Grammar Correction Link Correction Additional Information Other Your Feedback Submit Feedback Thank you for your feedback Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

　　External Websites Ask the Chatbot a Question Written and fact-checked by The Editors of ProCon ProCon's editors write and verify new content and update existing content. ProCon presents the pro and con arguments to debatable issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, freely accessible way. The Editors of ProCon Last Updated: Sep. 26, 2025 •Article History Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask the Chatbot For most of human history, work has been largely hunting and gathering, agrarian, and hand-based (cobblers, smiths, and the like), and work schedules have depended on demand, seasons, weather, and daylight hours.[1]

　　

　　Industrial RevolutionHow the revolution changed culture and work.(more)The Industrial Revolution (beginning in the 18th century) introduced social and economic change on a vast scale by introducing newly invented machinery, such as the combustion engine and the spinning jenny, that greatly accelerated productivity. These changes spurred the factory system and urbanization, displacing artisans and radically changing how workers worked. Many of them left their homes and farms for the factory, where working hours were set not by nature but by employers. The rise of mass production and the assembly line only exacerbated these workplace changes, often to the detriment of the worker.[1]

　　

　　Dangerous child laborYoung boys working on a thread spinning mill in Macon, Georgia, 1909.(more)The worker exploitation that followed in the wake of the Industrial Revolution was felt throughout the industrialized world. Workers—including women and children, some as young as three—were notoriously mistreated. Estimates vary, but most experts agree that workers in the United Kingdom were required to work about 12 to 16 hours a day, six days a week—72 to 96 hours a week—in the 19th century. Estimates for the United States were slightly lower by 1830, totaling about 69 hours per week.[2][3][4][5]

　　Throughout the 1800s, workers, reformers, and labor unions lobbied against child labor and for shorter working hours (primarily an eight-hour workday) and safer working conditions, and many workers protested by going on strike. On May 19, 1869, Ulysses S. Grant released “Proclamation 182—Eight Hour Work Day for Employees of the Government of the United States,” which limited government “laborers, workmen, and mechanics” to eight-hour workdays and he encouraged the private sector to follow suit. Working Saturdays, however, remained common, meaning workers routinely only had one day off each week—Sunday. [5][6][7]

　　

　　The five-day workweek originated with Henry Ford.Assembly line workers inside the Ford Motor Company factory at Dearborn, Michigan, early 20th century.(more)Workweek relief first came from Henry Ford, who in 1926 enacted a five-day workweek in Ford Motor Company factories having previously instituted an eight-hour workday. This shorter workweek was codified into law with the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. This act originally set the workweek at 44 hours per week but reduced it to 42 hours in 1939 and to the now-standard 40 in 1940.[6][8][9][10]

　　The five-day, 40-hour workweek remained standard until the COVID-19 pandemic(beginning in March 2020), when working at home became commonplace. During and after the pandemic, many workers quit their jobs or refused to return to their offices after the work-at-home mandates had been lifted, leading observers to call this period the “Great Resignation.” Employees quit for many reasons, including fear and concern about COVID safety precautions, a desire for better pay and a better work-life balance, and a reassessment of personal priorities, especially in light of the increasing availability of at-home work. The popularity of remote work emboldened the post-pandemic push for a four-day workweek.[11][12]

　　In the United States, senators and representatives have introduced legislation to reduce the workweek to 32 hours many times since Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) first did so in 1985. More recently, Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have both introduced the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act.[13][14][15][16][17][18]

　　Not waiting for guidance from the federal government, private companies have experimented with their own unique work schedules. These various schemes include:

　　4-32: Employees work 32 hours in four days (8-hour days) and have one day off during the week (generally Friday). This is the work schedule most often referred to as a four-day workweek.4-10 (also called a compressed schedule): Employees work 40 hours in four days (10-hour days) and have one day off during the week (generally Friday).6-hour workdays: Employees work 6 hours per day for five days a week, totaling only 30 hours per week. 9-80: Employees work 80 hours over nine days instead of ten and get every other Friday off.9-72: Employees work regular 8-hour days for 9 days, totaling 72 hours, and have every other Friday off.Half-day Fridays: Employees have Friday afternoons off, which is a common schedule in the summer. [19][20]There are even new work schedules demanding more, not fewer, weekly hours from workers. The 996 model is designed for hyper-productivity, especially in the tech industry, and requires employees to work from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week, for a total of 72 hours per week. This model originated in China’s tech industry and was highly controversial, but some Silicon Valley tech companies and startups in the U.S. have also adopted this model. This workweek is associated with heavy stress and worker burnout.[34]

　　So, given that the five-day workweek was a response to the Industrial Revolution, is the four-day workweek more appropriate for the tech revolution? Explore the debate below.

　　The following is a ProCon Quick Take debate, an abbreviated version of our longer features. ProCon will expand on this topic in the future.

　　Pros and Cons at a Glance

PROS	CONS
Pro 1: A four-day workweek offers employees a better work-life balance, which translates into better mental health and a happier workforce. Read More.	Con 1: A four-day workweek increases pressure on employees, causing more, not less, physical and mental burnout. Read More.
Pro 2: A four-day workweek means employees and companies can focus on essential tasks rather than those of questionable value. Read More.	Con 2: A fixed workweek of fewer hours is not the answer—workers want workplace flexibility and a quality work experience. Read More.
Pro 3: A four-day workweek is financially beneficial to companies. Read More.	Con 3: A four-day workweek is not only impossible in many industries but will deepen the divide between white-collar and blue-collar workers. Read More.

Pro Arguments (Go to Con Arguments) Pro 1: A four-day workweek offers employees a better work-life balance, which translates into better mental health and a happier workforce. A six-month U.K. pilot program in 2022, involving some 2,900 workers, revealed that 62 percent found it easier to balance work with their social lives, 60 percent found it easier to balance work with care responsibilities, and 54 percent found it easier to balance work with household jobs. Similarly, employees reported lower levels of anxiety, fatigue, and sleep issues, along with better physical and mental health. As a result, there was a 65 percent reduction in sick and personal days taken. [21]

　　Put simply, healthy and happy employees are the best employees, and the four-day workweek can produce this very workforce. It also leads to greater worker retention, which is a boon to employers.

　　Pro 2: A four-day workweek means employees and companies can focus on essential tasks rather than those of questionable value. “It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion,” noted British naval historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson in The Economist in 1955. In other words, more work time is not the key to better productivity, because the same task can fill an hour or a week.[22]

　　The average white-collar employee spends 21.5 hours a week in meetings, and 47 percent of employees believe meetings to be the biggest time-wasters at the office. Plus, the average employee is interrupted 56 times a day while at work.[23]

　　Pro 3: A four-day workweek is financially beneficial to companies. Businesses [with shorter work weeks] immediately eliminate a percentage of variable overhead expenses like electricity and energy consumption. For example, in the 2019 Microsoft Japan trial, electricity costs fell by 23%. Also, employees use fewer office supplies and equipment such as printers and copiers depreciate slower. Fewer work days also mean less frequent janitorial services. And if you factor in the daily perks that many businesses offer their employees, like snacks or free lunches, the cost savings increase even further.[24]

　　Additionally, employees are more likely to choose to work for and stay with a company that offers a four-day workweek, reducing employee turnover and employer costs.[24]

　　Con Arguments (Go to Pro Arguments) Con 1: A four-day workweek increases pressure on employees, causing more, not less, physical and mental burnout. For many employees, the expectation to deliver the same results in fewer hours means working at a faster pace, with little room for error or downtime. The pressure to perform can feel overwhelming, as there’s less flexibility to manage unforeseen tasks, unexpected meetings, or emergencies. Instead of fostering a relaxed, balanced atmosphere, the four-day workweek can intensify the stress to meet deadlines in a shorter time frame.[25]

　　What results from this crunch of work and time is a vicious cycle of “work-hard, crash-hard” that only exacerbates stress, illness, and fatigue, undermining the very goals of the four-day workweek.[25][26]

　　Con 2: A fixed workweek of fewer hours is not the answer—workers want workplace flexibility and a quality work experience. A Gallup poll found that “the quality of the work experience has 2.5x to 3x the impact of the number of days or hours worked.” In other words, the four-day workweek can’t cure a poor work culture.[27]

　　The reality is that one-size-fits-all solutions like a four-day workweek don’t work for everyone. For example, Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) prefers an efficient work environment and strongly dislikes long work days. Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) tend to prefer technology-based accommodations and remote work but look for company “perks and culture.” And Generation Z (born between 1997 and the early 2010s) describes the traditional 40-hour, five-day workweek as “soul-sucking”—43 percent of Gen Zers have no desire to work such a schedule.[28][29][30][31][32]

　　Con 3: A four-day workweek is not only impossible in many industries but will deepen the divide between white-collar and blue-collar workers. “It’s relatively easier for jobs that rely on knowledge work to move to a compressed schedule compared to jobs that rely on service work,” explains financial journalist Amy Fontinelle. “We wouldn’t want to see customer service or tech support, let alone hospitals and fire departments, take three days off per week with zero coverage—though allowing individual workers to have four-day weeks could be possible.” Becoming more efficient might not be feasible—for example there’s “a physical limit to how many items Amazon Warehouse employees can pick per hour or how many delivery locations a UPS driver can hit in a day.”[10]

　　Thus, the four-day workweek can really only be adopted by white-collar knowledge workers who can be out of the office one day a week without catastrophe. This will only deepen the socioeconomic divide between white-collar workers and blue-collar, service, and front-line employees.[33]

　　“I think 20% of the workforce, the most elite, are going to get more flexibility like unlimited vacation time and some of these things we’ve asked for,” says management professor Lindsey Cameron. “For the remainder of the American workforce, it’s going to stay mostly as it is.”[33]

　　After reading this debate, take our quick survey to see how this information affected your opinion of this topic. We appreciate your feedback.

　　Discussion Questions Should companies adopt a four-day workweek? Why or why not?What schedule would you like to work? How would that schedule benefit the company and benefit you? Explain your answer.Explore the potential environmental impact of a four-day workweek. Do you think the change would benefit or harm the environment? Explain your answer. SourcesEncyclopaedia Britannica, “Industrial Revolution” (July 28, 2025), britannica.comRobert Whaples, “Hours of Work in U.S. History” (August 14, 2001), eh.netStriking Women, “Working Hours” (accessed August 17, 2025), striking-women.orgBBC, “Industry—Textile Factories and Coal Mines” (accessed August 17, 2025), bbc.co.ukMuseum of Tolerance, “Child Labor During the Industrial Revolution” (accessed August 17, 2025), museumoftolerance.comLiterary Digest, “Henry Ford’s Five-Day Week” (accessed September 22, 2025), teachingamericanhistory.orgUlysses S. Grant, “Proclamation 182—Eight Hour Work Day for Employees of the Government of the United States” (May 19, 1869), presidency.ucsb.eduThe New York Times, “Ford Establishes a 5-Day Week After Test; Expects Spur to Labor Will Bring 6-Day Pay” (September 26, 1926), timesmachine.nytimes.com Jonathan Grossman, “Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938: Maximum Struggle for a Minimum Wage” (accessed August 17, 2025), dol.govAmy Fontinelle, “The Impact of Working a 4-Day Week” (January 23, 2025), investopedia.comMaury Gittleman, “The ‘Great Resignation’ in Perspective” (July 2022), bls.govU.S. Census Bureau, “The Number of People Primarily Working From Home Tripled Between 2019 and 2021” (September 15, 2022), census.govU.S. Congress, “H.R.4728 - Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act” (July 27, 2021), congress.govU.S. Congress, “H.R.1332 - Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act” (March 1, 2023), congress.govU.S. Congress, “S.3947 - Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act” (March 14, 2024), congress.govU.S. Congress, “H.R.2933 - Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1985” (July 22, 1985), congress.govEvan Low and Cristina Garcia, “AB-2932 Workweek: Hours and Overtime” (March 24, 2022), leginfo.legislature.ca.govBriana Scalia, “New York Considering Four-Day Workweek Pilot Programs” (May 19, 2025), foxnews.comMaryville University, “Shorter Workweek: Pros and Cons for Employee Productivity” (October 6, 2022), online.maryville.edu4 Day Week, “4 Day Week Companies” (accessed August 19, 2025) 4dayweek.ioAutonomy, “The Results Are In: The UK’s Four-Day Week Pilot” (February 2023), autonomy.workTiffanie Wen, “The ‘Law’ That Explains Why You Can’t Get Anything Done” (May 21, 2020), bbc.comAbby McCain, “25+ Wasting Time at Work Statistics [2023]: How Much Time Is Wasted at Work” (December 15, 2022), zippia.comCaroline Castrillon, “Why Companies Should Consider a Four-Day Workweek” (October 17, 2021), forbes.comBenjamin Laker, “The Hidden Costs of the 4-Day Workweek and Its True Impact” (October 3, 2024), forbes.comJoshna Dsouza, “Drawbacks of a 4 Day Work Week: What to Consider” (October 13, 2024), zoetalentsolutions.comJim Harter, “Is the 4 Day Work Week a Good Idea?” (September 9, 2021), gallup.comBetterHelp Editorial Team, “Generation X In The Workplace: Bridging The Gap” (January 31, 2025), betterhelp.comSilvija Martincevic, “Most Americans Are Hourly Workers—So Why Is 9-To-5 Still The Norm?” (July 7, 2025), forbes.comIntuit Credit Karma, “The Traditional 9 to 5 Is Soul Sucking for Gen Z, Study Finds” (February 22, 2024), creditkarma.comDeputy, “New Deputy Report Reveals 2025 Workforce Trends: Gen Z’s Dominance, AI’s Expansion, and the Rise of Micro-Shifts” (March 6, 2025), news.deputy.comDarshana Dutta, “Understanding Millennials in the Workforce” (July 26, 2025), vantagecircle.comAngie Basiouny, “Can the U.S. Embrace a Four-Day Workweek?” (August 22, 2022), knowledge.wharton.upenn.eduKate Knibbs, “Silicon Valley AI Startups Are Embracing China’s Controversial ‘996’ Work Schedule” (July 23, 2025), wired.com