15 Australian companies switched to a four-day work week. It went surprisingly well
15 Australian companies switched to a four-day work week. It went surprisingly well
Publish Date: 2026-05-20 02:00:00
Source Domain: theconversation.com
In a 1930 essay, British economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that in 100 years time, technological advances would have displaced so much human labour that people would be working 15-hour weeks – if they worked at all.
Today, 96 years later, that vision hasn’t exactly materialised. In Australia, research actually suggests we’re regularly doing more than we’re being paid for – performing an extra 3.6 hours of unpaid work each week on average.
The practical reality of a four-day work week first emerged during the energy crisis of the 1970s. But the idea gained momentum again when COVID forced a global rethink of how and where we work.
Now, interest in the idea is growing for other reasons. There have been calls for people to travel less as the Iran war disrupts fuel supplies. Unions are pushing for shorter working hours. And just last month, artificial intelligence (AI) giant OpenAI called for employers to experiment with a four-day work week as a way to equitably redistribute the productivity gains firms are predicted to get from AI.
Our new research, published in Nature’s Humanities and Social Sciences Communications journal, explores the practical experiences of 15 Australian firms that have tried switching to this model.
All but one of them decided to continue with the four-day work week. And none reported a loss of productivity.
What we did and what we found
Over two years, we interviewed 15 firms that had formally trialled the 100:80:100 version of the four-day work week.
This is where workers get 100% of their normal pay, but work 80% of their previous hours, in exchange for maintaining 100% of their previous output.
We interviewed key decision makers at these companies who had championed the idea of a four-day week and had a key role in its design and implementation.
We wanted to know why they were motivated to make this switch, the benefits and challenges they experienced, and what overall impact it had on productivity…
