Here's What a 4-Day Work Week Could Mean for Your Paycheck (2024)

FAQs

Here's What a 4-Day Work Week Could Mean for Your Paycheck? ›

Here's the good news: If you're a salaried employee, a four-day work week would likely mean you get more time off while receiving the same pay. In other words, no change to your regular paycheck. If you're an hourly employee

In almost all instances, a 4-day work week still entails 8-hour shifts. If your employer offers a 4-day work week but wants you to continue working 40 hours a week, you will receive the same pay (i.e., your salary shouldn't decrease).

Pilot studies in countries including the U.K., Spain, Portugal, and South Africa suggest that shorter workweeks can help employees reduce burnout, manage stress, get more sleep and exercise, spend additional quality time with loved ones, and feel all-around happier and healthier.

Enhanced employee satisfaction: Offering a four-day workweek can significantly boost employee satisfaction and morale. Employees appreciate having an extra day off to pursue personal interests and hobbies, leading to higher levels of job satisfaction and loyalty to the company.

Some four-day workweek models are compressed workweeks, where employees work four 10-hour days to fit the same amount of working hours into fewer days. Other four-day workweeks have reduced hours, where employees are expected to complete all their work in 32 hours — but still get paid a full salary.

If shorter weeks drive employers to squeeze as much productivity as they can out of the remaining time their employees are on the clock, and technologies for employee surveillance continue their Orwellian development, more leisure time could paradoxically come at the cost of less freedom at work.

Cost savings: The model can save schools money by reducing expenses like transportation and utilities. Improved student performance: Some studies have shown that students perform better on standardized tests with the four-day week model.

Know your value to the company

Also critical are the skills, work habits, knowledge, and experience you possess that are in demand, as well as your productivity and results. Understanding your value will help employees argue why you should move to a 4-day work week and how it will benefit the company.

The four-day workweek is proving to be the gift that keeps on giving. Companies that have tried it are reporting happier workers, lower turnover and greater efficiency. Now, there's evidence that those effects are long lasting.

Mondays and Fridays off might seem like the best thing about the four-day workweek, but it turns out neither is recommended by experts. Instead, Wednesdays are considered the best for reducing stress and minimizing burnout.

Is the US shifting to a four-day week? ›

While the concept itself is not new, the trend of exploring widespread adoption of it in the workplace is. In its Spring 2023 U.S. Occupier Sentiment Survey of 200-plus U.S. companies with offices, CBRE found that 20% of respondents are either exploring a move to a four-day work week or implementing it altogether.

Critics argue that many employees could end up working longer hours on the four days they are in the office, which could negate the benefits of an extra day off. In industries where customer service and client interactions are crucial, a four-day work week might pose challenges.

What could a four-day work week mean for my paycheck? Here's the good news: If you're a salaried employee, a four-day work week would likely mean you get more time off while receiving the same pay. In other words, no change to your regular paycheck. If you're an hourly employee, here could be changes to overtime pay.

The one-sided results showed 8 in 10 full-time workers want a four-day workweek instead of the usual five-day week. The top reasons workers cite for favoring a four-day workweek in the survey, as well as others, are it would improve work-life balance and physical and mental health.

What is a 4/10 Work Schedule? A 4/10 work schedule—otherwise known as a compressed schedule—is when employees work a full 40 hours a week but in 4 days instead of 5 days. This means they'll work 10 hours a day for 4 days instead of 8 hours a day for 5 days. These compressed schedules aren't just for 9-5 office spaces.

Shifting to a four-day workweek reduces overhead expenses such as electricity and other office costs. Cutting such costs would save you a lot of money with time. In addition, office supplies will last longer, and equipment such as printers, scanners, and copiers will depreciate slower.

Our research has shown revenue increases up to 35% for a six-month pilot of the four-day work week, when compared to a similar financial period. Revenue continues to improve for longer trials of the four day work week, proving its not just a short-term phenomenon.

If the regular payday for the last pay period an employee worked has passed and the employee has not been paid, contact the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division or the state labor department. The Department also has mechanisms in place for the recovery of back wages.