Keynes predicted we'd work 15 hours a week by now. We work more than ever. But the four-day week — once a fringe idea — has become a serious policy experiment in over a dozen countries. Here's what's actually happened.
Updated June 2026 · Originally published March 2022
The five-day workweek is a cultural norm where a six-day workweek was reduced to only five days. This was the result of union advocacy in the early 1900s — and many people still wonder why we need to work from 9 to 5? The four-day workweek, or compressed work schedule, is an arrangement where employees work four days instead of five — either by compressing their hours into four longer days, or by genuinely working fewer total hours while maintaining the same output.
Over the last four years, the four-day week has moved from a fringe idea to a mainstream policy debate. Major national trials in the UK, Iceland, Germany, and Japan have produced results. Several countries have gone further — making it law or granting workers a legal right to request it. The conversation has shifted from “is this possible?” to “why haven’t we done this already?”
“In 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that humans would work only 15 hours a week within a century. We work more than ever — but the idea that we could work less is finally being taken seriously.”
What’s the Purpose of a Four-Day Working Week?
The purpose of the four-day workweek is to balance employees’ work and personal lives. In 1930, John Maynard Keynes had a vision that humans would work only 15 hours a week within a hundred years. For unknown reasons, we work even more than his era — despite more people on the planet and technology that has improved beyond anything he could have imagined.
The four-day arrangement gives employees fewer working days and more time for hobbies, family, and rest — which, the evidence increasingly suggests, makes them more productive rather than less. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the conversation dramatically. Remote work, flexible arrangements, and a collective reassessment of work-life priorities made the four-day week seem less radical and more like the obvious next step.
The data from completed trials backs this up. In the UK’s landmark 2022 pilot — the largest four-day week trial in history — 92% of participating companies said they would continue the arrangement after the trial ended, reporting maintained or improved productivity, reduced employee burnout, and lower staff turnover.
At a Glance: Countries and the Four-Day Week in 2026
| Country | Status | Key detail |
|---|---|---|
| Iceland | Established | 86% of workers now have the right to shorter hours following 2015–2019 trials |
| Belgium | Legal right | Workers can compress 5 days into 4 since 2022 — same hours, fewer days |
| UAE | Government adopted | Federal employees on 4.5-day week since January 2022 |
| United Kingdom | Legal right (2024) | Workers can request flexible hours from day one of employment since 2024 |
| Germany | Major trial | 45-company pilot completed 2024; strong results, policy debate ongoing |
| Japan | Optional | Major companies including Panasonic, Hitachi, and Microsoft Japan have adopted it |
| Spain | Pilot ongoing | 32-hour week pilot funded with €50M EU funding, multi-year programme |
| Scotland | Trial completed | Pilot showed strong productivity and wellbeing results; policy adoption pending |
| Ireland | Trial completed | Six-month pilot showed 91% of companies wanted to continue |
| New Zealand | Employer-led | Growing number of companies adopting voluntarily following PM Ardern’s endorsement |
| Sweden | Mixed | Some companies maintain reduced hours; no national policy adopted |
| South Africa | Trial 2024 | 28-company pilot completed 2024 — first African country to run a formal trial |
Country by Country: What’s Actually Happened
Iceland — The Pioneer
Iceland was the first country to run a large-scale test of the four-day week, conducting trials from 2015 to 2019 with over 2,500 workers — roughly 1% of Iceland’s entire working population. Hours were reduced from 40 to 35–36 per week with no reduction in pay. The results were striking: worker wellbeing improved significantly, productivity was maintained or increased, and collaboration between colleagues became closer. Following the trials, trade unions negotiated permanent working time reductions. As of 2026, some 86% of Icelandic workers have the right to reduced working hours or a four-day week.
Belgium — A Legal Right Since 2022
Belgium introduced a legal right to a four-day week in 2022 — though with an important caveat. Belgian workers can compress their existing 38-hour week into four days rather than five, meaning they work longer days rather than fewer total hours. Prime Minister Alexander de Croo framed it as a way to create a more dynamic economy and help people balance family and career. It is the right to compress, not the right to fewer hours — a distinction that matters for the productivity argument.
UK — Legal Right to Flexible Working Since 2024
The UK ran the world’s largest four-day week trial in 2022, involving 61 companies and around 2,900 workers. The results were overwhelmingly positive: 92% of companies said they would continue after the trial, revenue held steady or increased, and staff absences and turnover dropped. In 2024, the UK gave workers a legal right to request flexible working arrangements from day one of employment — not quite a four-day week, but a significant step toward normalising the conversation.
Germany — Serious Trial, Policy Debate Ongoing
Germany ran a 45-company pilot in 2024 that produced strong results, with participating companies reporting maintained productivity and significant improvements in employee wellbeing. Germany’s rigid industrial relations system and strong trade union culture make national adoption more complex than in smaller economies, but the trial has moved the debate forward significantly in Europe’s largest economy.
Japan — Corporate Adoption Without Government Mandate
Japan’s notoriously rigid work culture — the country even has a word, karoshi, for death by overwork — has been shifting. The government included four-day week recommendations in its annual economic policy guidelines, and major corporations have led the way: Panasonic, Hitachi, and Microsoft Japan have all introduced optional four-day arrangements. Adoption remains voluntary and uneven, but the direction is clear.
Spain — A Long-Running Pilot
The Spanish pilot — a 32-hour working week funded with €50 million in EU money — has been running since the early 2020s, compensating companies for the transition. Spain’s progressive coalition government made the four-day week a policy priority, though implementation has been slower than initially hoped. The pilot remains ongoing and results will inform future legislation.
UAE — Government-Led
The United Arab Emirates took the most decisive government action of any country, moving federal employees to a 4.5-day week from January 2022 — the first country in the Middle East to make such a change. The new weekend runs from Friday afternoon to Sunday, aligning better with global markets. The stated goal was boosting productivity and improving work-life balance; the practical benefit was also aligning the UAE working week more closely with Western trading partners.
Does It Actually Work?
The evidence from completed trials is broadly positive. The UK trial found that revenue in participating companies fell by less than 1% on average, while employee burnout, anxiety, and fatigue all decreased significantly. The Icelandic trials showed productivity either maintained or improved. Ireland’s pilot found 91% of companies wanted to continue.
The critics raise legitimate points. The four-day week is easier to implement in knowledge-economy jobs — software, finance, professional services — than in manufacturing, retail, healthcare, or hospitality, where physical presence is required by the nature of the work. A compressed 4-day week also risks simply shifting stress rather than reducing it, if employees feel pressure to fit five days of work into four. And the macroeconomic effects of universal adoption — on output, inflation, and competitiveness — remain genuinely uncertain.
But the direction of the evidence is hard to argue with. Most people who have tried working four days say they would not go back. Most companies that ran trials say they want to continue. The question is no longer whether the four-day week can work — it’s whether societies and governments are willing to make it the norm rather than the exception.
Final Thoughts
Keynes was wrong about the timeline — we are not working 15 hours a week. But he was right about the underlying possibility. Technology has made us vastly more productive than workers in 1930. The question of why that productivity hasn’t translated into more leisure time is one of the more interesting unsolved puzzles of modern economics.
The four-day week won’t solve that puzzle on its own. But the trials of the last four years have demonstrated something important: working less, when done right, doesn’t make us less productive. It might make us better at our jobs — and better at everything else too.
Country data reflects the situation as of mid-2026 and is subject to change as trials conclude and legislation evolves.