New results from the world's largest trial of the four-day working week
Cambridge social scientists led by Brendan Burchell, with Boston College and the think tank Autonomy, studied the British four-day week trial, in which 61 organisations cut working hours by 20 per cent without reducing pay for six months in 2022. They report reduced stress and burnout, fewer sick days and fewer staff leaving, and company revenue that barely changed, rising about 1.4 per cent on average for the 23 firms that supplied data. Most of the firms planned to keep the shorter week, and the figures on wellbeing are self-reported.
Cambridge social scientists led by Brendan Burchell, with Boston College and the think tank Autonomy, studied the British four-day week trial, in which 61 organisations cut working hours by 20 per cent without reducing pay for six months in 2022. They report reduced stress and burnout, fewer sick days and fewer staff leaving, and company revenue that barely changed, rising about 1.4 per cent on average for the 23 firms that supplied data. Most of the firms planned to keep the shorter week, and the figures on wellbeing are self-reported.
Written from the university of Cambridge sociology news item, read 2026-10-27.
What our sources record
Recorded when this source was checked, figures included, with page references and quotation marks removed.
Department news page. https://www.sociology.cam.ac.uk/news/new-results-worlds-largest-trial-four-day-working-week