The latest trends show that many Canadians value work-life balance and prioritize spending time with family, pursuing personal interests, and maintaining overall wellbeing. Therefore, a shorter work week may appeal to those seeking more time for non-work activities.  

As seen in a recent study, advocates of the 4-day work week claim that reducing the number of working days can increase productivity and efficiency. They believe employees can accomplish the same amount of work with a compressed schedule, resulting in improved job satisfaction and overall performance.

However, aspirations to work 4 days a week seem to be crushed when there is money in return. A recent study by Select Software Reviews found that 74% of workers would rather have a $50K bonus than a 4-day work week.



74% of workers would rather have a $50K bonus than a 4-day work week.

Select Software Reviews


For this reason, we asked our members to share their experiences and opinions on this employment modality that is gaining ground in Canada and around the world. The views on the 4-Day Work Week were divided:

  • 3 of them are already working with this modality or have in the past

  • 3 of them say this type of schedule wouldn’t work for their jobs

  • 3 of them say they would love to try the shorter work week



9 Community Members on the 4-Day Work Week



My employer provides us with the opportunity to work a 4-day work week in the summer. We also close the office a half-hour earlier. My team loves the switch to the 4-day work week.

It would be a dream to move to a 4-day work week. Unfortunately, we are in the insurance industry, and it just isn’t feasible for us.

My company is discussing the 4-day work week. It will be very difficult because we run payroll on Fridays.

We have not switched to a 4-day week. We are customer-facing and provide services to the local community, so reducing our work week overall is challenging and not likely possible. Our organization is, however, very flexible with work schedules, and there are options for individual staff to have reduced hours for periods of time up to a year, with approval.

We typically go to a 4-day work week during the summer–some shuffling is required to ensure that all Finance/Payroll gets processed on time, but everyone’s willing to work together to make it happen. Could we do it year-round? Not sure, as there are periods that require not only a 5-day week but extra hours on those days.

I am interested in a 4-day work week. I work for a small company, and I am on-time with deadlines by Friday, and I am looking for extra work. The 4-day work week would be great for mental health and getting things done. When they tested the 4-day work week with some companies in Ontario, there was some positive feedback, including high employee morale, and so were those companies' sales. Customer satisfaction was much higher during this time also.

I would love to have this option, but it has not been offered to anyone in our company.

In a previous position, we worked 15 minutes extra a day from September to the end of June. This allowed us to take 7 Fridays off in the summer and reduce the hours for the other 4 days of the week by 1/2 hour. I feel that positivity went up, and our work did not suffer from this. Overall, the culture was great during the summer months. Right now, at my current position, I have one employee working a 4-day work week, but they work 4 10-hour days to have a 4-day work week.

While my work is very flexible and supportive of personal time and has a great PTO policy, I would gladly work a bit more every day to bring my week down to 4 days.

 
 

As we see, opinions on the 4-day work week may vary depending on the job type or company. It’s clear that some sectors might find it easier to implement than others due to the nature of their work.


Would you like to try the 4-day work week, or do you think it might impact productivity? Tell us in the comments section.


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