Four-day work week benefits workers, employers, study says
July 22 (UPI) -- A four-day work week can lead to happier and more productive, dedicated employees, a new global study found.
Workers at companies that instituted a four-day work week -- essentially working 80% of their regular hours for the same pay -- reported less burnout and better job satisfaction along with improved mental and physical health, researchers report in Nature Human Behavior.
"Across outcomes, the magnitude [of improvement) is larger for the two work-related measures - burnout and job satisfaction - followed by mental health, with the smallest changes reported in physical health," wrote the research team co-led by Juliet Schor, an economist and sociologist at Boston College.
For the study, researchers conducted six-month trials involving nearly 2,900 employees at 141 businesses or organizations that adopted a four-day work week in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., Ireland and the United States.
The team compared employee well-being at those firms with that of about 290 employees at 12 other companies that didn't try out the abbreviated work week.
People given a four-day week had, on average, five fewer hours of work per week, results show.
Workers who had a reduction of eight or more hours in their work week reported larger decreases in burnout and increases in job satisfaction and mental health, compared with employees at companies that stuck to a five-day schedule, researchers said.
But even workers who wound up with less time off during their four-day week still received smaller but similar benefits, researchers found.
"There is a clear dose-response relationship for individual-level hours: greater reductions in hours worked predict larger improvements in subjective well-being," researchers wrote.
Better sleep, improved effectiveness on the job and less fatigue appear to explain the improvements that occurred among employees with a four-day work week, researchers found.
"Increases in perceived work ability - at both company and individual levels - indicate that the work reorganization process opened up by four-day weeks has led to profound changes in the job experience itself, improving workers' individual and collective sense of performing their jobs well," researchers wrote.
Overall, the findings suggest that "an organization-wide reduction in hours can stimulate workers to collectively adjust and optimize their workflows, leading to improved work ability and well-being," researchers concluded.
However, they noted that the companies that participated were already interested in trying a four-day work week, and therefore, might have been more supportive of employee well-being from the start.
More studies including larger numbers of different types of companies are needed to verify that a four-day work week could benefit both employees and their businesses, researchers said.
More information
The American Psychological Association has more on the four-day work week.
Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
15 minutes ago
- UPI
UnitedHealth Group says it's cooperating with DOJ Medicare probe
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a press briefing in June. UnitedHealth said its facing an investigation from the Department of Justice about its Medicare billing practices. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | License Photo July 24 (UPI) -- UnitedHealth Group said Thursday it is facing Department of Justice investigations over its Medicare billing practices. UnitedHealth Group said in a statement on its website that it reached out to the DOJ after seeing media reports about investigations into its Medicare program. "(UnitedHealth) has now begun complying with formal criminal and civil requests from the Department. The Company has full confidence in its practices and is committed to working cooperatively with the Department throughout this process," the statement said. The insurer said it's launching its own investigation. "To provide our stakeholders transparency and confidence (UnitedHealth) ... has proactively launched its own initiative to conduct third party reviews of policies, practices, and associated processes and performance metrics for risk assessment coding, managed care practices, and pharmacy services." The company told CNBC that it expects to complete that review near the end of the third quarter. The Wall Street Journal reported in May that the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into UHC for Medicare fraud. The company said it stands "by the integrity of our Medicare Advantage program." The Journal reported in July that the DOJ interviewed doctors about UnitedHealth's practices and asked if they felt pressured to submit claims for certain conditions that bolstered payments from the Medicare Advantage program. "(UnitedHealth) is committed to maintaining the integrity of its business practices and serving as reliable stewards of American tax dollars," UnitedHealth said. This is just the latest setback for the country's largest health insurer. Shares are down more than 42%, its CEO Andrew Witty left the company in May, it suffered a ransomware attack in early 2024, and then CEO Brian Thompson was killed in December 2024 by alleged shooter Luigi Mangione, which sparked significant public outrage against the company.
UPI
18 hours ago
- UPI
Mercury preservative to be removed from all flu shots, CDC says
A nurse gives an influenza virus vaccine shot to a man at a Giant Pharmacy in Fairfax, Va., on Oct. 13, 2004. File Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg/UPI | License Photo July 23 (UPI) -- The mercury-based preservative thimerosal will be removed from all flu shots distributed in the United States, Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Wednesday. Kennedy made the change when he signed policies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, according to a news release Wednesday. The committee voted 5-1 with one abstention for the changes at its meeting on June 25 and 26 in Atlanta. All people, including children, who receive a single dose of influenza will have them without mercury. Kennedy, who hasn't acted on other panel recommendations from June, signed the decision instead of the leader of the CDC. Susan Monarez, who is President Donald Trump's nominee to head the agency, hasn't been confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The committee also voted 6-0 to recommend all Americans age 6 months and older to receive an annual influenza vaccine. Flu vaccines are reformulated yearly because viruses mutate and evolve. Thimerosol was added to vials of vaccine that contain more than one dose to prevent the growth of germs, including bacteria and fungi. It was removed from children's vaccines in the United States in 2001. "After more than two decades of delay, this action fulfills a long-overdue promise to protect our most vulnerable populations from unnecessary mercury exposure," Kennedy said in a statement. "Injecting any amount of mercury into children when safe, mercury-free alternatives exist defies common sense and public health responsibility. Today, we put safety first." In 1999, the U.S. Public Health Service, the American Academy of Pediatrics and vaccine manufacturers agreed that any potential risk from mercury warranted removal as soon as possible. The advisory panel didn't act until Kennedy appointed new members in June to approve the changes, which was recommended by the European Medicines Agency in 2004. The eight committee members include some vaccine skeptics and pandemic response critics. The panel heard a presentation against thimerosal from Lyn Redwood, the former leader of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy. Redwood is listed as an "expert" on the HHS employee website. In the news release, vaccine manufacturers said they have the capacity to fill vials without mercury. "With the U.S. now removing mercury from all vaccines, we urge global health authorities to follow this prudent example for the protection of children worldwide," Kennedy said. The removal affects 4% to 5% of the flu vaccine supply in the U.S., CNBC reported. Multi-doses from Sanofi's Fluzone and two shots from CSL Sequirus included thimerosal. The other flu shots were free from it, according to the CDC. "We acknowledge the recommendation of the new Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)," Sanofi said in a statement to The Hill. "We will have sufficient supply of Sanofi flu vaccine to support customer preference for this season." The most common side effects from thimerosal in vaccines were red and swelling at the injection site with some people allergic to it, according to the CDC. In a book by Kennedy in 2014, he wrote thimerosal was "toxic to brain tissue" and likely caused autism. A 2010 CDC study found "that prenatal and infant exposure to vaccines and immunoglobulins that contain thimerosal does not increase risk for autism spectrum disorder." In all, more than 40 studies over several decades showed no connection between thimerosol and developmental delays. Flu shots for the 2025-2026 flu season are available starting in August.
UPI
2 days ago
- UPI
Early smartphone access harms developing minds, study warns
Early exposure to toxic social media explains much of the link between young smartphone access and poorer mental health, researchers said. Other contributing factors may include cyberbullying, disrupted sleep and poor family relationships. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio/ Pexels July 22 (UPI) -- Care about your kid's well being? Then best not give them a smartphone until they're a full-fledged teenager, a major new study says. Kids given a smartphone when they were younger than 13 tend to have poorer mental health and well-being, researchers report in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. Specifically, people between 18 and 24 who got their first smartphone at 12 or younger had higher odds of suicidal thoughts, aggression, detachment from reality, poorer emotional regulation and low self-worth, researchers report. Early exposure to toxic social media explains much of the link between young smartphone access and poorer mental health, researchers said. Other contributing factors may include cyberbullying, disrupted sleep and poor family relationships. "Our data indicate that early smartphone ownership- and the social media access it often brings - is linked with a profound shift in mind health and wellbeing in early adulthood," says lead researcher Tara Thiagarajan, chief scientist of Sapien Labs, said in a news release. "I was initially surprised by how strong the results are," she said. "However, when you give it due consideration, it does begin to make sense that the younger developing mind is more compromised by the online environment given their vulnerability and lack of worldly experience." For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 100,000 young adults around the world as part of the Global Mind Project, an ongoing research effort aimed at assessing the effects of modern society on mental health. Each of the participants filled out a questionnaire to help determine their Mind Health Quotient (MHQ) - a measurement of their social, emotional, cognitive and physical well-being. The team focused on members of Generation Z born between 1997 and 2012 who were the first to grow up with smartphones and social media from early childhood. Results show that young adults who got their first smartphone before becoming teens had lower MHQ scores than those who got a phone later. In addition, the younger a person got their first smartphone, the worse their mental health and overall well-being, researchers said. For example, about half (48%) of girls who got a smartphone at age 5 or 6 report suicidal thoughts, compared with 28% who got a smartphone at 13, the study says. Girls who got smartphones at a young age were more likely to have diminished self-image, self-worth and confidence, as well as less emotional resilience, researchers found. Meanwhile, boys were more likely to have lower stability, self-worth and empathy. Looking into potential causes, researchers found that early access to social media explains about 40% of the link between earlier smartphone ownership and poorer mental health in young adulthood. The results bolster growing concerns regarding how AI-driven social media algorithms amplify harmful content and encourage children to compare their lives to those of apparently happier and better-off influencers, researchers argue. Poor family relationships (13%), disrupted sleep (12%) and cyberbullying (10%) also contributed to the link, the study says. "Based on these findings, and with the age of first smartphones now well under age 13 across the world, we urge policymakers to adopt a precautionary approach, similar to regulations on alcohol and tobacco, by restricting smartphone access for under 13s, mandating digital literacy education and enforcing corporate accountability," Thiagarajan said. Several countries have already banned or restricted cell phone use in schools, including France, the Netherlands, Italy and New Zealand, researchers noted. In the U.S., Alabama, Arkansas, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma and West Virginia have passed legislation requiring schools to limit or ban smartphones, researchers added. "Our evidence suggests childhood smartphone ownership, an early gateway into AI-powered digital environments, is profoundly diminishing mind health and well-being in adulthood with deep consequences for individual agency and societal flourishing," Thiagarajan said. "That said, I think it is also important to point out that smartphones and social media are not the only assault to mental health and crisis facing younger adults," she said. "It explains some of the overall decline but not all of it." The study can't draw a direct cause-and-effect link between early smartphone access and poorer mental health as a young adult, researchers noted. More research is needed to confirm this link and explore its causes. "Now, while more research is needed to unravel the causal mechanisms, waiting for irrefutable proof in the face of these population-level findings unfortunately risks missing the window for timely, preventative action," Thiagarajan said. More information Johns Hopkins Medicine has more on social media and children's mental health. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
