A four-day workweek could be the antidote to employee burnout.
The results from a six-month trial involving thousands of employees suggest that working only four days instead of five reduces employee burnout while boosting productivity, retention and team morale.
Exos, a U.S.-based company with more than 3,000 employees around the world, recently published the results from the first six months of its four-day workweek trial, which started last spring and is ongoing. Exos is a coaching company that trains pro athletes and runs corporate wellness programs at nearly 25% of the Fortune 100, including Adobe and Humana.
As part of the experiment, the majority of employees work four days and then have what the company calls "You Do You Fridays" during which they can take time off, catch up on work or use the leisure time as they see fit.
Salaried employees at Exos who participated in the experiment moved to a four-day 40-hour workweek with no change in pay, while hourly-paid staff were given the option to work between 32 and 40 hours during the four-day week based on their preference and arrangement with their manager, Exos chief people officer Greg Hill tells CNBC Make It.
The goal is for the policy to be flexible and enable workers to practice intentional recovery or build rest into their schedule in a way that's effective for them. There's just one rule: You can't message other people or try to set up meetings for Fridays.
Exos measured the impact of the four-day workweek on its employees — with help from organizational psychologist Adam Grant and Wharton School of Business doctoral candidate Marissa Shandell — and found significant benefits that mirror what other four-day workweek experiments have shown.
The biggest benefits of a four-day workweek: Happier, more productive employees
Exos reports that six months after introducing a four-day workweek, business performance and productivity remained high, revenue increased and turnover dropped.
Following the addition of "You Do You Fridays," for example, 91% of Exos employees reported spending their time more effectively at work, compared with 64% before the pilot. On top of that, manager appraisals reflected the same level of performance before and after the pilot period.
Exos also saw a significant increase in retention: Its turnover rate fell from 47% in 2022 to 29% in 2023 (though it's important to note that Exos' experiment overlapped with a cooling hiring market).
But the biggest benefit of embracing a four-day workweek has been the increased efficiency, says Hill. Put simply, working a shortened workweek meant people got more done in less time.
Hill notes that Exos introduced safeguards to ensure employees could concentrate on the job without overextending themselves Monday through Thursday to get through their workload.
Managers encouraged "microbreaks" by limiting most meetings to 25 minutes and encouraged asynchronous work whenever possible, says Hill. Exos also pushed for Tuesdays and Thursdays to be dedicated to meetings, while saving Mondays and Wednesdays for individual work to help people avoid the "task switching" that can slow productivity.
Employees who can't take a full day off each week because they're working with a client on-site get blocks of time throughout the week for flexibility. Roughly 85% of Exos' employees work in-person, while the remaining 15% are hybrid or remote.
An extra day off 'isn't just another paid vacation'
One of the growing pains of implementing a four-day workweek has been making sure employees understand that having Fridays off "isn't just another paid vacation," says Hill, but an opportunity to recharge, take care of household responsibilities or finish any outstanding tasks so they're less stressed and distracted during the workweek.
"We had to spend some time making sure everyone understood that we weren't just adding a day off to your calendar at random, but that those days should be for strategic recovery, honoring Exos' ethos that work + rest = success," Hill adds.
How the four-day workweek is gaining momentum
While the five-day schedule remains the standard in the U.S., global experiments to test a four-day workweek have gotten workers, and their bosses, onboard with the idea.
Dozens of countries including Ireland, Spain and the UK have tested a 4-day workweek, with overwhelmingly positive results: Businesses that participated in a six-month trial in the UK, which ended in December 2022, said switching to a 4-day workweek improved productivity, morale and team culture.
In the U.S., close to 81% of full-time workers support a four-day workweek, according to a July 2023 Bankrate report, which surveyed 2,367 adults.
The four-day workweek is gaining momentum in Congress, too: In March, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced legislation that would reduce the standard workweek to 32 hours without a pay cut.
It's a companion bill to one in the House of Representatives, which was reintroduced by Democratic Representative Mark Takano of California in March 2023. Takano had originally introduced the legislation in 2021, but it failed to advance in Congress.
Business leaders and billionaires alike expect flexible workweeks to become the norm.
IAC and Expedia chairman Barry Diller believes companies will eventually transition to working in the office four days a week, with a flexible Friday option.
"I think sensibly — not necessarily a four-day workweek, but four days in the office, and Fridays you can work from home or work at your own schedule," he said during an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Thursday. He added: "I think that is going to be the sensible evolution of all this, but it has to be standardized."
Mets owner and billionaire financier Steve Cohen also predicts a four-day workweek could soon be the norm — an idea that influenced his 2023 investment in golf startup league TGL.
"I think I would have done the golf investment anyway because I think there's a longer-term thought, but my belief is a four-day workweek is coming," Cohen told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday.
The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence will likely contribute to a shorter workweek, as well as the fact there are generally lower productivity levels on Friday, Cohen added.
He continued: "I just think it's an eventuality … That's just going into a theme of more leisure for people, which means golf rounds that go up, interest will go up, [and] I guess courses will be crowded."
Companies that don't embrace the four-day workweek — or other flexibility options for its employees — could risk losing their competitive edge in hiring, says Hill.
"Think about 'quiet quitting,' workers are building flexibility into their schedules with or without permission," he says. "What companies don't realize, too, is that you don't have to go from one extreme to the other — if you're not ready to embrace a four-day workweek, you can start with meeting-free afternoons. It's all about giving your employees opportunities to recover so they can perform at their best."
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