More free time, less money – employees will forgo their paychecks for a four-day week

Remote work, work-life integration, and the four-day work week are work models that have been discussed more and more frequently in recent years. Now the importance of a shortened workweek for employees is becoming clearer: they will even accept less pay for a four-day workweek.

Discussion of the four-day week is often based on the assumption that employees will not accept any loss in wages to reduce the number of working days. But now the job exchange has discovered otherwise. According to this, two-thirds of employees in the UK are willing to give up part of their salary for four days a week.

This demonstrates the importance of flexibility and achieving a better work-life balance for employees. Especially in the current situation, where CEOs of major companies such as Deutsche Telekom are pushing to return to their offices, it is clear how much modern business models are desired.

This desire is also understandable because the four-day week works. The world’s largest trial of this business model last year in the United Kingdom showed that more than 60 participating companies maintained or increased their productivity. At the same time, the volatility rate decreased significantly. Therefore, the majority of companies decided to continue with this model.

Research by the non-profit advocacy group 4 Day Week Global also suggests that people who work five days fail to get anything done for a single day because their time is wasted in pointless meetings. When they work less, they do more important work.

Global economists also know the advantages of the four-day week. Even JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says there will be fewer than four-day work weeks in the long term. It is believed that thanks to artificial intelligence, the next generation will work only 3.5 days a week.