4 day work week research

March 7, 2023

A Four-Day Workweek Reduces Stress without Hurting Productivity

The results of a test involving dozens of employers and thousands of employees suggests that working only four days instead of five is good for workers’ well-being—without hurting companies

By Jan Dönges & Sophie Bushwick

Jose Luis Pelaez/Getty Images

Working four days instead of five—with the same pay—leads to improved well-being among employees without damaging the company’s productivity. That’s the recently reported result of a four-day workweek test that ran for six months, from June to December 2022, and involved a total of 61 U.K. companies with a combined workforce of about 2,900 employees.

During the COVID pandemic, many workers experienced increased stress and even burnout, a state of exhaustion that can make it difficult to meet work goals. “It’s a very huge issue,” says independent organizational psychologist and consultant Michael Leiter, who was not involved in the new report. “You see it particularly in health care, where I do a lot of my work. It’s making it much more difficult to hold on to talented people.” He explains that stress in the workplace makes it difficult for companies in health care and many other fields to recruit new hires and keep existing employees. But a greater awareness of burnout and related issues can have a positive effect, Leiter adds. “People are demanding more changes in how the work is organized,” he says.

That demand is what led the independent research organization Autonomy , in conjunction with the advocacy groups 4 Day Week Global and  4 Day Week Campaign and researchers at the University of Cambridge, Boston College and other institutions, to publish a report on what happens when companies reduce the number of days in a workweek. According to surveys of participants, 71 percent of respondents reported lower levels of burnout, and 39 percent reported being less stressed than when they began the test. Companies experienced 65 percent fewer sick and personal days. And the number of resignations dropped by more than half, compared with an earlier six-month period. Despite employees logging fewer work hours, companies’ revenues barely changed during the test period. In fact, they actually increased slightly, by 1.4 percent on average.

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Even before the COVID pandemic, companies tried to enhance employee well-being with interventions such as wellness programs. The new report suggests that a four-day workweek could be a tool for this purpose. “We think this is a far more effective and powerful way to have an impact on employees,” says report co-author Juliet Schor, an economist and sociologist at Boston College. Unlike most wellness benefits or flexible-hour schedules, which are typically options for individuals, the four-day week would be an organization-wide policy. As a result, Schor says, making that change would not harm workers’ career prospects or income.

When it comes to helping workers in distress, “so much of the effort goes into making them feel better rather than actually changing the nature of work,” Leiter says. “The kinds of results that [the researchers are] reporting are more substantial than many of those [wellness] programs. Because again, a lot of what these programs are doing are helping people tolerate the situation that they’re in rather than changing [that situation]. It’s a much more profound thing to do—to change the nature of work—than it is to help people put up with what they’ve got.”

This is not the only test of a shorter workweek. In 2008, for example, Utah  started a program to try to save building energy costs by closing state employees’ offices on Fridays, although that program kept employees working for 40-hour weeks and merely redistributed the hours over four days instead of five. Other researchers have studied workweeks or days with fewer hours, although those assessments have often included workers at only one organization. “Prior to 2022, which is when 4 Day Week Global began running trials of companies doing four-day weeks ..., to our knowledge, there were no multicompany studies of the four-day week,” Schor says. The organization has conducted multiple studies on the shortened week’s impact in other countries. The recent one in the U.K. was its largest effort thus far, however.

In addition to surveys, the researchers performed in-depth interviews with participants in the new report. From those interviews, it emerged that employees used the additional day off mostly for organization and everyday tasks. This, in turn, allowed them to reserve the weekend primarily for recreation, so they could spend time with their families and hobbies.

The test included companies from a variety of industries, including online retailers, financial services firms, animation studios and a fish-and-chips store. Each company chose how to implement its four-day week—making Friday a day off for everyone or allowing employees to choose any day off, for example. Participants also reduced hours by eliminating time-wasting tasks such as overlong meetings, the surveys found. Ninety-two percent of the companies that took part in the pilot program said they would continue to test the four-day week, and 18 companies decided to keep their reduced working hours permanently.

The test period of six months was relatively short, so it remains unclear whether the favorable impact on well-being will persist in the long term. Employees might become accustomed to the reduced working hours over time, and the lighter workweek would begin to have only a limited effect on stress levels. The researchers plan on conducting a follow-up survey with the participating companies that are maintaining a four-day workweek at the one-year mark in order to see if these positive results continue—and Schor expects they will. “One reason we think they will is that we did a midpoint survey on all of these,” she says. Key outcomes such as stress and burnout “improved in the first three months, and that improvement was maintained. So we do know that in months three to six, we didn’t get regression.”

Leiter would have preferred the team to have used a more established measure to assess burnout. The surveys asked questions related to exhaustion and frustration, he explains, rather than using an assessment like the Maslach Burnout Inventory , which is currently considered the gold standard. “There’s a colloquial idea of burnout, which is that it’s being tired, and it’s being really frustrated with work,” he says. In Leiter’s research , that state would be called “overextended,” he notes. “Burnout has that quality but is also being very cynical and discouraged and depersonalizing things and really losing your sense of accomplishment, which is a much more dark place to be.” Still, he says that the four-day workweek is likely to reduce this more rigorous definition of burnout as well, “because it gives people more control over their life and their relationship with work.”

Companies may be more willing to try out a four-day workweek after seeing new work-from-home policies succeed. “When companies switched to work from home because of the pandemic, this was something they had the technology to do all along and just were really reluctant to let people do it,” Schor says. “And so that really changed employers’ point of view. I think it opened their minds.” Leiter agrees. “I think people were very much into a rut about how work has to be organized,” he says. “What’s come out of the pandemic for a lot of people was reflection, saying, ‘It really doesn’t have to be that way. We can change things drastically—because we just did.’”

A version of this article originally appeared in Spektrum der Wissenschaft and was reproduced with permission.

clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

A four-day workweek pilot was so successful most firms say they won’t go back

15 percent of employees who participated said that “no amount of money” would convince them to go back to working five days a week.

If the idea of working four days a week for the same pay sounds like music to your ears, the results of a pilot program from the United Kingdom may give you cause for hope.

Dozens of companies there took part in the world’s largest trial of the four-day workweek — and a majority of supervisors and employees liked it so much they’ve decided to keep the arrangement. In fact, 15 percent of the employees who participated said “no amount of money” would convince them to go back to working five days a week.

Nearly 3,000 employees took part in the pilot , which was organized by the advocacy group 4 Day Week Global , in collaboration with the research group Autonomy, and researchers at Boston College and the University of Cambridge.

Companies that participated could adopt different methods to “meaningfully” shorten their employees’ workweeks — from giving them one day a week off to reducing their working days in a year to average out to 32 hours per week — but had to ensure the employees still received 100 percent of their pay.

At the end of the experiment, employees reported a variety of benefits related to their sleep, stress levels, personal lives and mental health, according to results published Tuesday. Companies’ revenue “stayed broadly the same” during the six-month trial, but rose 35 percent on average when compared with a similar period from previous years. Resignations decreased.

Of the 61 companies that took part in the trial, 56 said they would continue to implement four-day workweeks after the pilot ended, 18 of which said the shift would be permanent. Two companies are extending the trial. Only three companies did not plan to carry on with any element of the four-day workweek.

The results are likely to put the spotlight back on shorter workweeks as a possible solution to the high levels of employee burnout and the “Great Resignation” phenomenon exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, amid a global movement calling for businesses to ditch the in-office, 9-to-5, five-day workweek and adopt more flexible working practices instead.

The world’s largest four-day workweek pilot just launched in the U.K.

Increased revenue, improved employee well-being

The findings from the U.K. trial build on the results of an earlier, smaller pilot published in November and also coordinated by 4 Day Week Global. That experiment, which involved about 30 companies and 1,000 employees in several countries, resulted in increased revenue, reduced absenteeism and resignations, and improved employee well-being. None of the participating firms planned to return to five-day workweeks after the pilot ended.

The 4 Day Week Global group is coordinating these pilot programs as part of its global campaign to encourage more firms to switch from the standard 40-hour workweek to a 32-hour model for the same pay and benefits.

The U.K. pilot program involved twice as many companies and nearly three times as many employees as the earlier pilot and is the largest of its kind. The benefits to participants extended beyond the office and into employees’ personal lives.

Those who took part were less likely to report that they felt they did not have enough time in the week to take care of their children, grandchildren or older people in their lives. The time men spent looking after children increased by more than double that of women, pointing to positive effects of a shorter workweek on gender equality — though there was no change in the share of housework men and women reported taking on.

A majority of employees who experienced the four-day workweek didn’t want to go back: At the end of the pilot, they were asked how much money they would have to receive from their next employer to go back to a five-day week. Nearly a third said they would require a 26- to 50-percent increase and 8 percent said they would want 50 percent higher pay.

Four-day weeks and the freedom to move anywhere: Companies are rewriting the future of work (again)

Better work-life balance

A better work-life balance is the reason Michelle, a 49-year-old media executive who asked to be identified by her first name so she could speak candidly about her past employment, insisted on a four-day workweek when she applied to her current position. After working three- and then four-day weeks when she returned from maternity leave in 2015, she noticed a “stark” difference when she shifted back to five-day weeks working for a different company during the pandemic.

“Suddenly, it felt like my entire life was about work,” she says. She came “close to burnout” and, when her contract at that company ended, she was clear with prospective employers that she wanted to work four days a week. In her current position, she has Fridays off and is paid 80 percent of what she would earn if she worked five days.

“It feels like I can breathe,” she said. “It feels like I’m not constantly behind with my family life and feeling guilty and like squashing all of the jobs and errands and everything into two days.”

The extra time off is particularly helpful for child care, she says. She co-parents her 9-year-old son, who is autistic. In her previous job, when she worked three- or four-day weeks, the extra time “meant I could pick him up from school, we could spend more time together,” she says. “It makes a huge amount of difference to parents.”

A four-day workweek in Maryland? Maybe. Bill would set up a pilot program.

While the four-day workweek model has gained some steam, it’s still not standard practice globally, and much of the research on the policy is limited by size. Most of the companies that took part in the U.K. trial were small — 66 percent had 25 or fewer employees — and predisposed to exploring the concept of flexible work. Ninety percent of the participating employees were White, and 68 percent had at least an undergraduate degree.

Opponents of the four-day workweek say while the policy may benefit some workers, it is not feasible for many , including workers in key industries such as child care and health care , which already face widespread staff shortages. Some workers would rather work more and earn more. And some skeptics believe that employees’ productivity would eventually decrease if the four-day workweek was made permanent.

Proponents of the policy emphasize that there is no one-size-fits-all and that the benefits of a shorter workweek could reverberate throughout society, lowering health-care costs and reducing emissions from daily commutes. Their ideas are becoming more mainstream . Several large-scale trials of shorter workweeks are underway globally. In 2021, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) introduced a bill that would reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours and mandate overtime pay for work done beyond that limit.

There is precedent for a large-scale change in the standard workweek: As The Washington Post has previously noted , before the Great Depression, it wasn’t uncommon for employees in the United States to work six-day weeks. The 40-hour workweek was first codified into U.S. law in 1938. The argument put forward by groups such as 4 Day Week Global is that “we’re overdue for an update.”

Rachel Pannett contributed to this report.

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The four-day work week: a chronological, systematic review of the academic literature

• Published: 13 April 2023

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• Timothy T. Campbell   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5173-8086 1  

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Despite having been propounded for at least 50 years, the four-day work week (4DWW) has recently attracted global attention. The media headlines are dominated by the positive outcomes that can be expected by converting to a 4DWW. However, on examination the claims often have foundations that derive from reports published by advocacy groups and organisation’s self-reported results rather than scholarly research. This paper turns to the academic literature and uses a chronological, systematic review method to address the questions of what positives and negatives can be attributed to the 4DWW? Does the scholarly research support the popular contemporary claims? And what can be learned from more than 50 years of scholarly 4DWW publications that can inform future research? Drawing on 31 academic articles that specifically researched the 4DWW, the conclusions found that the majority demonstrated favourable results such as increased morale, job satisfaction, cost reductions and reduced turnover whilst negatives included performance measures and monitoring being intensified, scheduling problems, and that benefits may fade over time. The impact on productivity and the environment were inconclusive. Overall, the scholarly research paints a more complicated and ambiguous picture compared to that presented by 4DWW advocates and the media. More contemporary research utilising rigorous methodologies is required.

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Once seen as an impossible fantasy, the four-day workweek has slowly begun to gain traction in recent years. Though it might still seem like a distant dream for many workers, some forward-thinking companies have already adopted shorter working weeks to keep their employees happier and more productive.

The world’s most extensive four-day workweek trial to date — in which 2,900 workers from 61 companies in the U.K. participated from June to December 2022 — has released its full findings. Various four-day-week models, such as Fridays off, staggered, decentralized, and annualized, were followed. The trial found that the four-day workweek significantly increased job satisfaction, improved work-life balance, and reduced employee stress. The results also showed improved product quality and customer service, and a significant reduction in absences and sick days.

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These findings support the idea that the four-day workweek is becoming an increasingly attractive proposition for employers looking to reduce costs, retain staff members, and enhance workers’ well-being. This could possibly become the new standard, given that more companies are now considering offering their employees four-day weeks permanently — not just on an experimental basis.

Of the 61 companies that took part in the experiment, an impressive 92% are continuing with the four-day week, and 18 of those organizations have declared that it will be a permanent change. The research conducted before and after the trial revealed that 39% of employees experienced lower stress levels and 71% noticed less burnout while working shorter weeks. Anxiety, fatigue, and sleep issues all decreased while physical and mental health significantly improved.

During the trial period, work-life balance improved in many ways. Specifically, it became easier for 54% of employees to balance their jobs with household duties and responsibilities. In addition, satisfaction regarding both financial stability and relationships increased due to people’s ability to better manage the amount of time allotted for each activity. Similar experiments in Belgium, Spain, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand have produced equally impressive results .

Although the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of a four-day workweek, the reality is that not all industries are currently able to make the switch. For example, the health care industry must ensure that staff members are always available, given that many medical conditions require around-the-clock care and emergencies can happen at any time.

Another issue many employers worry about is how their business could be affected by such a change. Although several prominent worldwide companies, such as Microsoft in Japan and Unilever in New Zealand , have conducted trials for the four-day workweek with positive feedback, many large organizations have been slow to embrace this trend, partially because their complex, inflexible structures can impede progress.

Although the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of a four-day workweek, the reality is that not all industries are currently able to make the switch.

So while the evidence in favor of a four-day workweek is strong, some challenges still need to be considered before it can become widely adopted. Organizations need to weigh the pros and cons while considering their staff members’ individual needs when deciding whether this would be the best option for them.

Fortunately, we’re seeing small and midsize businesses take the initiative to experiment with the shortened workweek, since they are much more adaptable and able to quickly act on ideas sponsored by their CEOs or founders. In addition, leaders at small companies likely encounter less bureaucracy. As a result, they can better anticipate the effect that widespread change will have on their entire organization and more easily implement such changes than large, multinational corporations with less flexible structures can.

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Instead of reducing their employees’ hours, some companies may soon shift to more creative means of promoting work-life balance, like no-meeting days . I anticipate that changes will occur gradually as more large and small companies begin experimenting with the four-day workweek. While there may be a few bumps in the road, I firmly believe we’re on the brink of a significant shift. With so many successful tests conducted around the world, the proof is in the pudding.

For now, the shorter workweek may not be widespread, but there’s momentum around the globe to keep the experiment going. Small and midsize businesses are leading the charge, and large companies are beginning to take notice. It’s up to everyone — employers, employees, and leaders alike — to continue pushing for change if we want to see more widespread adoption of the four-day workweek.

About the Author

Benjamin Laker ( @drbenlaker ) is a professor of leadership at the University of Reading’s Henley Business School and coauthor of Too Proud to Lead: How Hubris Can Destroy Effective Leadership and What to Do About It (Bloomsbury, 2021).

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More companies are trying out the 4-day workweek. But it might not be for everyone

Jeevika Verma

LaDonna Speiser has been working four days a week since February. She says she's not ready to give it up. Kyle Green for NPR hide caption

LaDonna Speiser has been working four days a week since February. She says she's not ready to give it up.

On a recent summer Friday, 59-year old LaDonna Speiser takes her grand-nephew to the pool and helps her mother-in-law with errands. She visits the eye doctor and makes an appointment with a physical therapist. She even spends some time reading on the patio. She's able to do all this because her employer, a company called Healthwise, offers her a four-day workweek.

With the pandemic and the " Great Resignation " making it harder for companies to attract and retain talent, a growing number of white-collar employers like Healthwise are exploring new avenues to make work life more appealing. One of them — the four-day workweek — considers if workers really need to be working 40 hours a week. As part of its Work Life series, NPR's Morning Edition looked into how realistic this actually is.

Speiser's company started experimenting with four-day workweek last year. Based in Boise, Idaho, the company produces health education materials for hospitals and health plans. It recently completed a pilot trial run by the nonprofit 4 Day Week Global , which helps organizations with the transition away from the traditional five-day workweek.

LaDonna Speiser is pictured outside of her company, Healthwise, on June 29. The Idaho-based company experimented with four-day workweeks last year and made it permanent in February. Kyle Green for NPR hide caption

For some companies, the benefits are clear

For Healthwise, cutting back to four work days was actually good for business.

"Our revenues went up this year more than we had budgeted," says CEO Adam Husney. "We've delivered on products on time or ahead of where we have done. I would say the things we are able to measure have all been positive."

What's more, these positives are tied to one of the objectives of the trial — which was to learn how a four-day workweek can help employees with burnout.

Enjoy The Extra Day Off! More Bosses Give 4-Day Workweek A Try

4-Day Workweek Boosted Workers' Productivity By 40%, Microsoft Japan Says

"There are many people who are spending more time at the office than they need to," says Juliet Schor, an economist and sociology professor at Boston College. Schor is the author of the book The Overworked American , and leads research at 4 Day Week Global.

"If work were organized more efficiently," she says, "[employees] could get it done in a shorter period of time, go home, and have a better life."

Companies that join the pilot program are asked to test a four day workweek for six months. The requirement for participation is no reduction in pay but substantial reduction in hours. The vast majority of participants have gone to four days with 32 hours of work, with Friday as the most common day off. So far, 22 companies in the U.S. and 70 in the U.K . have enrolled in a trial this year. Companies in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are also involved.

Depending on the job, it might not be a realistic option

Juliet Schor, an economist and sociology professor, sits for a portrait at her office at Boston College on June 27, 2022. Vanessa Leroy/NPR hide caption

To be sure, the experiment isn't for everyone.

"If you look at the companies that are pioneering the four-day week, tech is very much at the forefront," says Schor. Kickstarter, with roughly 100 employees, is a notable company in the trial. "White collar work is the sort of dominant work at the moment," she notes.

Indeed, it seems that it may be easier to try out a four-day workweek in an office environment, where there is often more flexibility when it comes to schedules, than in other industries. When NPR called a manufacturing plant in the northeast that makes steel products, a floor manager who answered the phone said he didn't have time to grab a supervisor to speak on the record. Before hanging up, he said the plant was so slammed because of supply chain shortages and backlogged orders, that there's no way they could make a four-day workweek happen.

But when it comes to white-collar work, one of Schor's objectives is to see if a reduction in work hours is actually feasible. She brought up an experiment with health care workers in Sweden, where nurses were given six hour days instead of their usual eight hours to combat stress.

"There are many people who are spending more time at the office than they need to," says economist Juliet Schor. "If work were organized more efficiently," she says, "[employees] could get it done in a shorter period of time, go home and have a better life." Vanessa Leroy/NPR hide caption

"What these experiments showed is that the nurses getting the six hour days, as we would expect ... were happier," says Schor. "But the care facilities had to hire people for those extra hours. And what they found was although there was a small increase in costs, a lot of those additional salaries were offset by lower health care costs and lower unemployment for their existing workforce."

In the end, Schor says the four-day workweek ends up being less costly for employers – not just in revenue, but also in productivity.

"And of course, the patient outcomes improved," says Schor about the Swedish trial. "So I think we are going to start to see more of this in health care precisely because they are suffering a lot of burnout. The other thing in health care, of course, is mistakes. When you've got tired and stressed employees, you're more likely to make mistakes."

Some HR professionals see downsides

Some experts say there are clear downsides of the four-day workweek that are important to consider. While Healthwise gives employees Fridays off, some human resources professionals say that can create a scheduling challenge.

David Lewis, CEO of the human resources consulting firm OperationsInc, says the post-COVID-19 workplace has already made it difficult for employees to unplug.

"I keep hearing more and more that 'I work at home' or 'I live at work'," says Lewis. "People don't turn their laptops off, they don't disconnect their telephones."

The 40-hour workweek isn't working. Reducing it could help with productivity

For Lewis, the fundamental aspects of work-life balance are at play. In one recent study , researchers in New Zealand found that while employees were attracted by the four-day workweek, in practice several aspects of their work intensified after the change, including pressure from managers around things like performance.

"How exactly are you going to move people in the exact opposite direction to think about three days versus two days being disconnected when [they're] struggling to disconnect for even a couple of hours during the course of an entire seven-day week?"

Similarly, for Lindsay Tjepkema, the CEO of a marketing technology company called Casted, Fridays off is an exciting bumper sticker of an idea but it doesn't necessarily make her employees' lives any better.

Casted CEO and cofounder, Lindsay Tjepkema leads a senior leadership meeting at the Casted office building in Indianapolis on June 29. Kaiti Sullivan for NPR hide caption

"Real flexibility is being able to say, 'Hey I want to start my workday late' or 'I want to cut out early on Wednesdays for kid reasons, for friend reasons, for personal reasons, for pet reasons,'" says Tjepkema. "So if I mandate that flexibility at our company means you get Fridays off, that's not flexibility. That's mandating a day off."

Casted CEO Lindsay Tjepkema says the four-day workweek may not create as much flexibility for employees as some may think. Kaiti Sullivan for NPR hide caption

The trials that Schor is helping lead are still ongoing, so there isn't enough final data to draw conclusions about how much companies can save or how much better employee performance and satisfaction are because of a four-day workweek. And of course, this is all happening in a tough economy. Inflation is hurting companies and workers alike. Interest rates are one the rise, leaving many business leaders bracing for a recession . Even so, Schor is convinced the four-day workweek has irreversible momentum.

"If you think about things like ... Friday off every other week, Fridays off in the summer, no meeting Fridays ... Friday is just gradually becoming a day in which people are less plugged in to their job," says Schor. "And one of the things we know is that once people have something like this, it's very hard to take it away."

LaDonna Speiser is living this. She's been working a regular four-day week since February. When we asked her if she'd be willing to give that up for a different job somewhere else, she sort of laughed and said her life has changed with this new schedule. She has more of it now and she's not so ready to give that up.

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How to Actually Execute a 4-Day Workweek

• Josh Bersin

It’s about changing how work gets done, not working the same number of hours over fewer days.

A growing body of evidence suggests that reduced-hour work schedules for the same level of pay are not only feasible when it comes to maintaining outcomes but also potentially advantageous when it comes to employee wellbeing and retention. These initiatives only work if companies undertake substantial work redesign to reduce hours while maintaining business outcomes. This means streamlining operations, removing administrative burdens, and prioritizing high-impact work. Another major challenge is ensuring employees accept that you’re asking them to produce the same amount in fewer hours.

Coming out of the pandemic, the conversation about flexible work has largely focused on whether employees should return to the office — and how often. A third of U.S. workers who can do their jobs remotely now do so all the time . LinkedIn research shows that in May 2023, nearly one in nine U.S. job postings offered remote work, 13% of postings were hybrid, and 66% of applications were for remote and hybrid roles. A CEO told me that by putting the word “remote or hybrid” into the job description, the number of job applicants tripled.

• Josh Bersin is founder and CEO of human capital advisory firm The Josh Bersin Company. He is a global research analyst, public speaker, and writer on the topics of corporate human resources, talent management, recruiting, leadership, technology, and the intersection between work and life.

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Four-day work week trial in Spain leads to healthier workers, less pollution

Ninety-seven percent of workers say a four-day working week should become permanent in their organization. Image:  Unsplash/Arlington Research

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This article was published in March 2023 and updated in October 2023.

• Giving workers an extra day off a week actually increases productivity, boosts physical and mental health and reduces CO2 emissions.
• These are some of the surprising benefits of a four-day working week, research shows.
• Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos in January 2023, Sander van 't Noordende, CEO of HR consulting firm Randstad, said the four-day working week was “a business imperative”.

Work smarter not harder has been the mantra of management consultants for decades. But what if you simply work less? There’s mounting evidence that ditching the conventional working week has benefits for employers and employees alike.

The World Economic Forum’s landmark 2020 report The Future of Jobs predicted that the rapid digitalization of the world of work would lead to two-fifths of the global workforce operating remotely . Many organizations would fully embrace flexible working, it added.

That principle was put to the test in a series of trials across the world in 2022 co-ordinated by a not-for-profit organization, 4 Day Week Global, with employers in Ireland, the United States, Australia and New Zealand taking part.

The Future of Jobs Report 2023 found that 75% of companies surveyed expect to adopt AI, big data and cloud technologies in the next five years.

The Centre for the New Economy and Society provides a platform for leaders to share insights on the adoption and efficacy of new technologies, and the readiness of the workforce to use them. Our work includes developing insights and dialogue on growth, jobs, skills, equity and risks.

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Want to know more about our centre’s impact or get involved? Contact us .

Surprising benefits of four-day working week

The global studies were followed by major city-wide and national trials.

Spain's third largest city Valencia, a pilot programme trialled a four-day week by scheduling local holidays on four consecutive Mondays throughout April and May 2023 .

The new temporary working week affected around 360,000 workers, who used the additional downtime to do sporting activities, relax and prepare meals, according to an independent commission of health and science experts tasked with evaluating the programme's impact.

Results showed people in the programme had higher self-perceived health status, reduced levels of stress, were less tired and felt happier and more personally satisfied.

The drop in commuting also led to a reduction in nitrogen dioxide emissions and improved air quality. And, in a separate 2022 study – one of the biggest single-country trials in the UK to date involving 73 companies and 3,300 employees, the results were similar – four days’ work for five days’ pay benefitted both employers and workers, as this Statista graphic shows.

Almost half of respondents said productivity improved either slightly or significantly, and 86% stated it highly likely they would continue with a four-day work week after the study.

Higher productivity

Put simply, working a four-day week meant people got more done in less time. Back in 2019, Microsoft Japan introduced a four-day working week and reported a 40% boost in productivity .

There were similar results from the global trials in 2022 with employees committing to cover 100% of their normal work in 80% of the time. When asked to rate improved productivity during the trial on a scale, where one was negative and 10 was very positive, employers gave it 7.7.

One employee in the Irish trial said: “I guess I've been a lot more careful with my calendar. It is one thing in terms of planning, focus time or identifying my priorities for the work week… not accepting every meeting that comes in.”

Happier workers

More than nine out of 10 employees who took part in the global trials said they wanted to continue with the four-day week, rating their experience 9.1 out of 10 . Measures of employee stress, burnout, fatigue and work/family conflict all declined.

At the same time, employees reported improved physical and mental health, work-life balance and increased general life satisfaction. Although some employees were still doing some work on their day off, most felt they were more productive and doing a better job.

People reported getting more exercise and more sleep on a four-day week. For families, the results from the UK study were very positive with the time spent by male workers looking after their children increasing by 27% .

Better for the planet

With one less day at work, commuting time per week was expected to drop and that’s just what happened, falling from 3.5 hours to just under 2.6 hours – 27% lower. But a bigger surprise was an overall reduction in people commuting by car, from 56.5% to 52.5% of employees.

Researchers said this was partly due to remote working but there were other signs that people were more environmentally conscious. Time spent on household recycling, walking and cycling and buying eco-friendly products saw “a small but significant” increase.

An earlier study by the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that a 10% reduction in working hours cut an individual’s carbon footprint by 8.6% prompting lead researcher economist Juliet Schor, to argue that a shorter working week is key to cutting global carbon emissions .

Here to stay?

The four-day week trials won near unanimous approval from the workers who took part, with 97% saying a four-day week should become permanent in their organization. Employers, too, were very positive – 92% of those who took part in the UK are retaining the four-day week .

Globally, companies who took part reported their revenues had increased by approximately 8% over the trial and were 37.55% higher than the same period in 2021. Hiring was up, absenteeism was down and even the number of people quitting declined slightly.

Worryingly for companies not embracing the four-day week, seven out of 10 employees said they would demand a pay increase of between 10% and 50% if they were expected to work five days a week – 13% said no amount of money would persuade them to give up the four-day week.

Business imperative

Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos in January 2023, Sander van 't Noordende, CEO of global HR consulting firm Randstad, said the four-day working week was “a business imperative ” in a world where talent is scarce.

Urging a change in employer attitudes, he said bosses should treat employees as customers. “Your customer, you ask what they want and you try to do the best possible job for your customer. You should treat talent in an equal way.” he said.

Randstad’s research showed that half of all employees were willing to quit their jobs if they were not happy at work. Flexible hours and hybrid working – combining time spent in the office and remotely – was a proven way to increase job satisfaction, van 't Noordende added.

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Four-Day Work Weeks Are Good for Your Health, a Large Study Finds

A four-day work week improves employees’ health in numerous ways, from reducing anxiety and stress to enabling better sleep and more time for exercise, according to a large new report .

“It genuinely has, even with our academic skepticism, been a really positive outcome,” says report co-author Brendan Burchell, a social sciences professor at the U.K.’s University of Cambridge who studies work’s effects on psychological well-being.

The report builds upon previous studies on the lifestyle and health benefits of working less by summarizing the experiences of 61 companies—and a total of about 2,900 employees—that piloted shorter work weeks from June to December 2022. Companies were recruited to join the study by advocacy groups 4 Day Week Global and 4 Day Week Campaign and workplace research group Autonomy, and researchers from Boston College and the University of Cambridge, including Burchell, oversaw participant interviews, data collection, and analysis.

Companies in the study, most of which were based in the U.K., were free to set their schedules however they wanted, as long as they “meaningfully” reduced working hours without docking pay. More than half of the companies that completed the researchers’ surveys gave all employees either Monday or Friday off, while others tried solutions like staggered schedules or shorter days throughout the week. Over the course of the six-month pilot period, employees’ average weekly working hours fell from 38 to 34—a bit shy of the target 32, which suggests some people either worked more on the days they were in the office or worked some on days off. Still, 71% of respondents said they were working less after the trial ended than before.

For many workers, a four-day week translated to better health. About 40% of respondents said they experienced less work-related stress, and 71% reported lower levels of burnout . More than 40% of employees said their mental health had improved, with significant portions of the group reporting decreases in anxiety and negative emotions.

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Almost 40% of employees also said their physical health got better during the pilot period, perhaps because they had more time for hobbies, exercise, cooking, family time, and other leisure activities. Nearly half of workers also said they weren’t as tired as they were before the experiment, and 40% said it was easier to get to sleep.

Burchell feared that shorter weeks would force people to work at a higher pace or intensity when they were on the clock, which could have been stressful enough to negate the wellness benefits of having extra time off. But, he says, that doesn’t seem to have been the case. “People found all sorts of ways of working more efficiently, cutting out lots of the time they were wasting,” he says.

In the end, 96% of employees said they preferred four-day schedules.

The shift was positive for employers, too. Among companies in the study, revenue increased by an average of about 1% during the pilot period, and employee turnover and absenteeism went down. Almost all of the businesses in the program said they planned to continue the four-day work week experiment, in some cases indefinitely.

That’s a good thing, because most employees said they’d need a significant pay bump to go back to working five full days per week, and 15% said no amount of money would convince them to go back.

Researcher Juliet Schor, an economist and sociologist at Boston College who studies working hours, says she’s optimistic that other companies, including those in the U.S., are waking up to the benefits of shorter work weeks. The growing trend of “summer Fridays” and periodic days off throughout the year, she says, points to a growing acceptance of working less—one that may culminate in four-day work weeks adopted at a wider scale.

The pandemic also made people reimagine what the workplace can look like , Burchell adds.

“When I told people I was looking at work time reductions three years ago, people thought I was a bit utopian, a bit of a dreamer,” he says. “Now, everyone’s talking about it like, ‘This is happening.’”

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Write to Jamie Ducharme at [email protected]

Economics of a four-day working week: research shows it can save businesses money

Lecturer in Finance, ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading

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Miriam Marra does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Reading provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

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The idea of a four-day working week is gaining momentum. The Labour Party has included it in its 2019 electoral manifesto, and Microsoft Japan announced positive results from a trial run earlier in 2019. Some fear it will “wreck” the economy .

But, colleagues and I have found in our research that the benefits of a four-day working week, without loss of pay, can outweigh the cons for both businesses and staff. We surveyed a number of businesses that have already adopted the four-day working week and found that they were making savings of almost £92 billion (around 2% of total turnover) each year.

Just over half (51%) of the respondents thought that the four-day working week enabled them to save costs. Of those, 62% say their staff take fewer days off sick, 63% say they produce better quality work, and 64% are more productive. Our research also outlines that the businesses who haven’t yet implemented a four-day week could save around £12 billion by moving to one. If we add this to the savings made by businesses that already implement a four-day week, we’d get a total combined saving of roughly £104 billion a year.

It is interesting to note that our positive results square with the evidence provided by Microsoft Japan. In its trial in August 2019, 2,300 employees were given a paid Friday off each week. The company reported an impressive 40% increase in the productivity of employees in the month (measured against August 2018). But other measures were also adopted to improve productivity, for example a significant reduction in the time and number of meetings and encouragement to use online platforms for collaboration.

On their day off, workers were encouraged to volunteer, learn and train. Or simply rest to improve their productivity and creativity. After five consecutive Fridays off the company reported a sales rise by nearly 40%, the company’s electricity consumption dropped by 23% and there was a 59% reduction in the printing of paper pages. This experiment suggests the arrangement might be applicable to larger corporations and in one of the countries most affected by a workaholic culture .

Other companies have implemented the four-day working week and also reported an increment in staff productivity. One example is Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand estate management firm that adopted the policy in November 2018. The company ran a pre and post-trial survey across employees and found that productivity was unharmed by the shortened work week, while staff work-life balance had improved by 24%, sense of empowerment by 20%, leadership and commitment levels respectively by 22% and 20%, and stimulation by 22% .

In our research we have also highlighted that the benefits of this arrangement aren’t just for businesses and the world of work. An extra day off could have a knock-on effect for the wider society. We found 54% of employees said they would spend their day shopping, meaning a potential boost for the high street, 43% would go to the cinema or theatre and 39% would eat out at restaurants.

We also see potential environmental benefits to a shorter working week. In addition to the reduction of energy and paper use experienced by Microsoft Japan, we think that fewer journeys to and from work provides a potentially large green dividend with less fuel consumption and a reduction in pollution .

Challenges remain

The hottest question now is: can this work arrangement be easily translated into a change in legislation such as the one proposed by the Labour Party? In its annual conference the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said that if the party wins the election, it will reduce the average working week to 32 hours within ten years .

One of the main challenges outlined by our research is that the four-day working week can be difficult to implement in service industries where customer demands need to be met, and particularly for smaller businesses. It would also imply a significant change in public services like teaching and nursing. But Labour did recognise that different sectors will need to respond in different ways.

Meanwhile, research by the Centre for Policy Studies , a centre-right think tank, also found that reducing the hours of public sector employees would mean at best a £17 billion cost for the Treasury and at worst a possible £45 billion cost, assuming no increase in productivity and a need to expand the workforce in public services.

But the main point is that any legislation change should not just focus on reducing time but also to find ways for employees to enhance their productivity when they are working. Time reduction should be seen as both the conduit and the outcome of increased productivity.

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Four-day work week trials have been labelled a 'resounding success'. But four big questions need answers

Analysis Four-day work week trials have been labelled a 'resounding success'. But four big questions need answers

A little more than a century ago, most people in industrialised countries worked 60 hours a week — six 10-hour days. A 40-hour work week of five eight-hour days became the norm, along with increased paid holidays, in the 1950s.

These changes were made possible by massive increases in productivity and hard-fought struggles by workers with bosses for a fair share of the expanding economic pie.

In the 1960s and '70s it was expected that this pattern would continue. It was even anticipated that, by the year 2000, there would be a " leisure society ". Instead, the trend towards reduced working hours ground to a halt.

But now there are suggestions we are on the cusp of another great leap forward — a 32-hour four-day week for the same pay as working five days. This is sometimes referred to as the "100-80-100" model. You will continue to be paid 100 per cent of your wages in return for working 80 per cent of the hours but maintaining 100 per cent production.

In Spain and Scotland, political parties have won elections with the promise of trialling a four-day week, although a similar move in the 2019 UK general election was unsuccessful. In Australia, a Senate committee inquiry  has recommended  a national trial of the four-day week .

Hopes of the four-day week becoming reality have been buoyed by glowing reports about the success of four-day week trials, in which employers have reported cutting hours but maintaining productivity.

However, impressive as the trial results may appear, it's still not clear whether the model would work across the economy.

An employer-led movement

Unlike previous campaigns for a shorter work week, the four-day work week movement is being led by employers in a few, mainly English-speaking, countries. Notable is Andrew Barnes, owner of a New Zealand financial services company, who founded the 4-Day Week Global  organisation.

It has coordinated a program of four-day week trials in six countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States). Almost 100 companies and more than 3,000 employees have been involved. (A highly publicised  trial in Iceland  was not coordinated by it.)

These trials are being monitored by an "international collaboration" of research teams at three universities: Boston College, Cambridge University and University College Dublin. The Boston College team is led by work-time/leisure-time guru Juliet Schor, author of the 1991 bestseller,  The Overworked American .

A number of reports have been published, including  one "global" report  covering all six countries and separate reports for  the UK  and  Ireland . A report on the Australian trial is promised for April.

Overall, these reports have declared the trials a "resounding success" — both for employers and employees.

Employees, unsurprisingly, were overwhelmingly positive. They reported less stress, burnout, fatigue and work-family conflict, and better physical and mental health.

More significant were the employers' responses. They have generally reported improved employee morale and no loss of revenue. Nearly all have committed to, or are considering, continuing with the four-day-week model.

Four big questions

The trials do not, however, answer all the questions about the viability of the four-day week. The four main ones are as follows.

• 1. Are the research results reliable? Employers and employees were surveyed at the start, halfway through and at the end of the six-month trials. But only about half of the employees and two-thirds of employers completed the vital final round. So there's some uncertainty about their representativeness.
• 2. Did the participating firms demonstrate the key productivity proposition: an increase of almost 20 per cent in output per employee per hour worked? The firms involved were not asked to provide "output" data, just revenue. This may be a reasonable substitute. But it may also have been affected by price movements (inflation was on the march in 2022).
• 3. For those firms that achieved the claimed productivity increase, how did it come about? And is it sustainable? Proponents of the four-day week argue that employees are more productive because they work in a more concentrated way, ignoring distractions. A much longer period than six months will be needed to establish whether this more intense work pattern is sustainable.
• 4. Is the four-day model likely to be applicable across the whole economy? This is the key question, the answer to which will only emerge over time. The organisations involved in the trials were self-selected and unrepresentative of the economy as a whole.

They employed mostly office-based workers. Almost four-fifths were in managerial, professional, IT and clerical occupations. Organisations in other sectors, with different occupational profiles, may find increased productivity through more intensive working difficult to emulate.

Take manufacturing: only three firms from this sector were included in the large UK trial. Since manufacturing has been subject to efficiency studies and labour-saving investment for a century or more, an overall 20 per cent "efficiency gain" to be had across the board seems unlikely.

Then there are sectors that provide face-to-face services to the public, often seven days a week. They cannot close for a day, and their work intensity is often governed by health and safety concerns. Reduced hours are unlikely to be covered by individual productivity increases. To maintain operating hours, either staff will have to work overtime or more staff would need to be employed.

As for the public sector, in Australia and other countries "efficiency savings" involving budget cuts of about 2 per cent a year have been common for decades. Any "slack" is likely to have been already squeezed out of the system. Again, reducing standard hours would result in the need to pay overtime rates or recruit extra staff, at extra cost.

So what now?

This does not mean the four-day week could not spread through the economy.

One scenario is that it could spread in those workplaces and sectors where productivity gains are achievable.

Those employers and sectors not offering reduced hours would find it harder to recruit staff. They would need to reduce hours, perhaps by stages, to compete. In the absence of productivity gains, they would be forced to absorb the extra costs or pass them on in increased prices.

The pace at which such change takes place would depend — as it always has — on the level of economic growth, productivity trends and labour market conditions.

But it is unlikely to happen overnight. And, as always, it will be accompanied by many employers and their representatives claiming the sky is about to fall in.

Anthony Veal is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology of Sydney's Business School. This piece first appeared on The Conversation .

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This U.S. company tested a 4-day workweek—and says it made workers happier and more productive

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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This CEO says moving to a 4-day workweek helped his company avoid layoffs

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A 4-Day Workweek? AI-Fueled Efficiencies Could Make It Happen

The four-day workweek—in which employees work 32 hours and are paid for 40 hours—could be supported by artificial intelligence (AI) as it increases productivity and streamlines some workplace tasks.

Steve Cohen, New York Mets owner and hedge fund firm founder, is the latest to say it’s only a matter of time before the four-day week is adopted thanks to AI, according to a Fortune report.

But AI by itself won’t usher in the change to a condensed workweek, the BBC reported .

“An openness to innovative work structures, an experimental mindset and, importantly, a culture grounded in high levels of trust are all important for the four-day work week to be successfully adopted,” Na Fu , a professor in HR management at Trinity Business School, Ireland, told the news outlet. Additionally, workers will need to develop new skills “that can leverage, complement and lead AI, achieving the enhanced outcomes,” she said.

Changing the workweek hasn’t been addressed at the federal level since 1940, when  Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA),  thereby limiting the standard workweek from 44 to 40 hours.

Lawmakers dissected the viability of a 32-hour workweek last month during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. A day ahead of the hearing, Sanders  introduced a companion bill  to the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act , which would reduce the standard workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours by amending the FLSA.

The  2023 SHRM Employee Benefits Survey  found only 9 percent of organizations have implemented a four-day workweek. 

SHRM Online collected the following news articles on this topic.

Steve Cohen Says a 4-Day Work Week Is Coming, in Part Because of AI

A four-day week is imminent because of the rapid proliferation of AI, Steve Cohen said April 3 during a CNBC “Squawk Box” appearance.

Although he isn’t sure when exactly the shift will take place, he believes the four-day work week is “an eventuality.” It’s an idea that influenced his 2023  investment  in golf startup league TGL. 

“I just think it’s an eventuality,” he said of a shorter workweek. “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,” he said. 

He noted, though, that if the markets remain open on Fridays, he doesn’t anticipate letting his traders take the day off. 

AI Could Make the Four-Day Workweek Inevitable

Working four days while getting paid for five is a dream for many employees. Yet the dramatic shifts in the pandemic-era workplace have turned this once unfathomable idea into a reality for some workers.

Some experts believe AI could accelerate the adoption of the four-day workweek. For their  2024 Impact of Technology on the Workplace , London-based news-and-events resource Tech.co surveyed more than 1,000 US business leaders. Researchers found 29 percent of organizations with four-day workweeks use AI extensively in their firms’ operations, implementing generative AI tools such as ChatGPT as well as other programs to streamline operations. In comparison, only 8 percent of five-day working week organizations use AI to this extent. And 93 percent of businesses using AI are open to a four-day work week, whereas for those who don't, fewer than half are open to working shorter weeks.

Embracing the GenAI Revolution: A Strategic Blueprint for HR Leaders

In the span of less than one year, the corporate sphere has been revolutionized by the advent of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), a technology that has swiftly transitioned from a novel concept to a cornerstone of innovation across diverse industries.

As corporate executives and senior HR leaders stand on the precipice of this transformative era, it is paramount to recognize the instrumental role they play in steering GenAI adoption toward enriching the employee experience and enhancing organizational value for customers.

( SHRM Online )

Generative Artificial Intelligence and the Workforce

GenAI will touch a broad array of roles. In many cases, the impact will be less about automating away tasks than about augmenting workers’ productivity and effectiveness or transforming the definition of job roles altogether to capitalize on new technologies and new unit economics, according to a report from SHRM and The Burning Glass Institute. GenAI can assist professionals by enhancing their capabilities, making them more effective or efficient rather than replacing them.

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The guardian – 'four-day week: ‘major breakthrough’ as most uk firms in trial extend changes', the financial times – 'most companies in uk four-day week trial to continue with flexible working', the wall street journal – 'after testing four-day week, companies say they don’t want to stop', bbc – 'firms stick to four-day week after trial ends', sky news – 'major breakthrough': most firms say they'll stick with a four-day working week after successful trial', interested in trialling a four-day week in your organisation click to find out more about our consultancy service, at a glance:.

This report details the full findings of the world’s largest four-day working week trial to date, comprising 61 companies and around 2,900 workers, that took place in the UK from June to December 2022

Key findings

• The design of the trial involved two months of preparation for participants, with workshops, coaching, mentoring and peer support, drawing on the experience of companies who had already moved to a shorter working week, as well as leading research and consultancy organisations.
• Companies, which included a range of organisations from diverse sectors and sizes, were not required to rigidly deploy one particular type of working time reduction or four-day week, so long as pay was maintained at 100% and employees had a ‘meaningful’ reduction in work time.
• Resisting the idea that the four-day week must be ‘one- size-fits-all’, each company designed a policy tailored to its particular industry, organisational challenges, departmental structures and work culture. A range of four-day weeks were therefore developed, from classic ‘Friday off’ models, to ‘staggered’, ‘decentralised’, ‘annualised’, and ‘conditional’ structures.
• The report results draw on administrative data from companies, survey data from employees, alongside a range of interviews conducted over the pilot period, providing measurement points at the beginning, middle and end of the trial.
• The trial was a resounding success. Of the 61 companies that participated, 56 are continuing with the four- day week (92%), with 18 confirming the policy is a permanent change.
• Some of the most extensive benefits of shorter working hours were found in employees’ well-being. ‘Before and after’ data shows that 39% of employees were less stressed, and 71% had reduced levels of burnout at the end of the trial. Likewise, levels of anxiety, fatigue and sleep issues decreased, while mental and physical health both improved.
• Measures of work-life balance also improved across the trial period. Employees also found it easier to balance their work with both family and social commitments – for 54%, it was easier to balance work with household jobs – and employees were also more satisfied with their household finances, relationships and how their time was being managed.
• 60% of employees found an increased ability to combine paid work with care responsibilities, and 62% reported it easier to combine work with social life.
• However, other key business metrics also showed signs of positive effects from shorter working hours. Companies’ revenue, for instance, stayed broadly the same over the trial period, rising by 1.4% on average, weighted by company size, across respondent organisations. When compared to a similar period from previous years, organisations reported revenue increases of 35% on average – which indicates healthy growth during this period of working time reduction.
• The number of staff leaving participating companies decreased significantly, dropping by 57% over the trial period. For many, the positive effects of a four-day week were worth more than their weight in money. 15% of employees said that no amount of money would induce them to accept a five-day schedule over the four-day week to which they were now accustomed.

This project was partially supported by the Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn Foundation. The qualitative strand of this project was partly supported by funding from the University of Cambridge, as well as the UK Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/S012532/1], as part of the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit). This support is gratefully acknowledged.

Joe Ryle, Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, said:

“This is a major breakthrough moment for the movement towards a four-day working week.

“Across a wide variety of different sectors of the economy, these incredible results show that the four-day week with no loss of pay really works.

“Surely the time has now come to begin rolling it out across the country.”

Charlotte Lockhart, 4 Day Week Global Co-Founder and Managing Director, said:

“We’re delighted to add these overwhelmingly positive results to our ever-growing evidence base in favour of reduced-hour, output-focused working. Not only do these findings demonstrate that the UK pilot programme was a resounding success, but it is encouraging to note that they largely mirror the outcomes from our earlier trials in Ireland and the US, further strengthening the arguments for a four-day week.

“While the impacts on business performance and worker wellbeing are expected and welcome, it’s particularly interesting to observe the diversity in findings across various industries. These results, combined with our previous research demonstrate that non-profit and professional service employees had a larger increase in time spent exercising, while the small group of construction/manufacturing workers had the biggest reduction in burnout and sleep problems. Certainly something to explore further in future pilots.”

Dr David Frayne, Research Associate at University of Cambridge, said:

“The method of this pilot allowed our researchers to go beyond surveys and look in detail at how the companies were making things work on the ground.

“We feel really encouraged by the results, which showed the many ways companies were turning the four-day week from a dream into a realistic policy, with multiple benefits. We think there is a lot here that ought to motivate other companies and industries to give it a try”.

Autonomy team Kyle Lewis Will Stronge Jack Kellam Lukas Kikuchi

Quantitative research team Prof. Juliet Schor, Boston College Prof. Wen Fan, Boston College Prof. Orla Kelly, University College Dublin Guolin Gu, Boston College

Qualitative research team Dr. David Frayne – University of Cambridge Prof. Brendan Burchell – University of Cambridge Niamh Bridson Hubbard – University of Cambridge Jon White – University of Cambridge Dr. Daiga Kamarāde – University of Salford Francisca Mullens – Vrije Universiteit Brussel

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The Four-Day Work Week Is Decades Away

Senator Bernie Sanders’ bill mandating a 32-hour week over the next few years would be harmful to the economy.

Billionaires and Bernie Sanders agree on at least one thing: They see a four-day work week in America’s future. Hedge fund manager  Steve Cohen  is investing in golf courses because he anticipates a big increase in leisure time, and IAC founder Barry Diller is expecting people to be in the office only  four days a week . The senator from Vermont, meanwhile, has  proposed legislation  that will set the work week to 32 hours.

Put me down as skeptical. Some big technological innovations promise to make people more productive, but a four-day work week will not be the norm anytime soon. And legislation imposing it over the next four years would harm the economy.

The first question is what a “four-day work week” means. Sometimes it means working 40 hours in four days instead of five, though this tends to  be less efficient . Or it may mean working an eight-hour day four days a week, which is what Sanders has in mind. Both kinds of arrangements have become  more common over the years  in the US and elsewhere — though much of the increase is among people who work fewer than 40 hours.

Continue reading the entire piece here at  Bloomberg Opinion   (paywall)

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Allison Schrager  is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of  City Journal .

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• Spotify to hike subscription price by up to £24 a year
• Minimum income for family visa rises by £10,000
• Britons can now 'work from home' in Italy for a year
• Wendy's creating 400 jobs as part of UK expansion
• The age when the average Briton pays off their mortgage
• 'WTF is going on with the price of olive oil?'
• Could I build a home gym for less than my gym membership?
• Basically...  Tax codes
• Cheap Eats : Great British Menu legend shares ultimate toastie recipe

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England's average house price has risen by £103,000 over the last decade, while the average annual wage has risen by £7,734.

But some areas have seen homeownership affordability decline more than others... 

The London borough of Barking and Dagenham has seen the most significant fall, according to moving platform Getamover. 

The platform found the area has seen house prices more than double to £380,000 in the last 10 years - but wages have only risen by £2,182. 

Hillingdon in West London took the second spot, with the average property shooting up by £230,000 to £495,000, while the average income increased by just £143. 

While London remains the most unaffordable region, the East Midlands has also seen a notable fall. 

Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire ranked fifth in the table, with the average house price increasing by £129,000 and the median annual income growing by £2,644.   

Gedling ranks sixth among the areas of England where the affordability of buying a home has declined most. 

The Nottinghamshire region has seen house prices soar by 84.8% to £231,000, while the average income has risen by just 13.11% to £33,454. 

You can see how other areas fared in the table below...

Rishi Sunak's post-Brexit rules for foreign workers are getting tough press in Italy this week - with claims they could mark the end of Italian waiters in London.

April saw the minimum salary requirement for a skilled worker visa increase from £26,200 to £38,700 - a near 50% rise as the government tries to reduce immigration.

Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica published an article on its site headlined "Italians in London, the long goodbye" after the new rule was brought in this month.

There were an estimated 342,000 Italians living in the UK in 2021, according to the latest Office for National Statistics census data.

La Repubblica said the new rule change would lead to the "end of the story" of Italy's "ancient roots" in the capital, which was founded by the Romans in 43 AD.

Separately, Italian journalist Antonio Polito wrote in the Corriere della Sera newspaper that the new salary for skilled workers was "an amount that no young novice can realistically earn".

"Thus London gives up one of its great assets, the fact of being an offshore and cosmopolitan city," he said.

Mr Sunak's post-Brexit rule change has worried hospitality bosses who are still struggling to get to grips with a post-COVID reality and rising costs. 

Conor Sheridan, founder of Nory and Mad Egg restaurant chain, previously told the Money blog that roughly 14% of his 15,000 UK employee base were on working visas that could be affected.

Trade body UKHospitality also said the changes would "further shrink the talent pool that the entire economy will be recruiting from".

As the migration law came in, Home Secretary James Cleverly said it was "time to turn off the taps and end the flow of cheap workers from abroad".

"We are refocusing our immigration system to prioritise the brightest and best who have the skills our economy needs, while reducing overall numbers," he said.

Several of the UK's biggest supermarkets closed their gender pay gap in the last year - while Morrisons saw the biggest rise, figures show.

Ocado and Lidl reduced their gap by the largest amounts in 2023-24 compared to the previous year, while Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Co-op, Iceland and Waitrose owner John Lewis also saw a reduction.

The data comes from the government's gender pay gap service and states the difference in hourly rates of pay. 

In contrast to other big-name brands, Morrisons saw its mean pay gap widen to 12.5% from 7.6%. M&S also saw a slight increase from 12.5% to 12.6%.

The mean figure gives the best overall view of the gender pay gap but includes extreme values which could skew the average.

Of the 11 biggest UK supermarkets, Co-op has the largest pay gap with 13.2%, followed by M&S and Morrisons.

An M&S spokesperson said: "We're committed to driving equal opportunities and making M&S a great place to work for women. Encouragingly our median pay gap has decreased, and women now make up more than 50% of our UK store management population, but we know there is more to do. 

"We're making progress with the launch of new initiatives, talent programmes, and policies, including our flexible working offer – Worklife, a Job Share Finder, and our industry-leading family leave offer."

A spokesperson for Co-op said: "We are committed to treating our colleague member owners fairly, and this includes driving equitable outcomes for female colleagues. We've seen a significant reduction in our gender pay gap since we started to report data in 2017, and this year's data shows further progress towards closing it.

"It's important to reiterate that we don't pay people differently based on their gender at Co-op. The gender pay gap is caused by us having fewer females in leadership role, where salaries are higher.

"Our focus on improving representation remains, as we know this is one of the key drivers causing the gender pay gap. Today, 40% of our leadership population are female - this is not enough, which is why we’ve launched a series of development programmes and have a coaching and mentoring offer to support women with career progression.

"We know there’s still much to do in this space and will hold ourselves to account and continue to strive for gender equality."

Morrisons has also been contacted for comment.

Every Thursday we look at a different savings option, explain the pros and cons, and reveal the best deals on the market (see table below for that).  This week we're talking about the best notice accounts. Savings Champion founder Anna Bowes  says this...

As with the rest of the savings market, the top notice account rates have started to fall. However, there are stalwarts like the Investec 90-day notice account that are holding steady and as a result offering savers an opportunity to earn a little more, while not having to tie up their cash for too long.

A relatively unused aspect of the savings market, notice accounts offer a bit of a halfway house, with the best rates available generally paying more than the top easy access rates, but will more flexibility of access than a fixed term bond.

Just as it sounds, these savings accounts require you to give notice in order to access your money without a penalty. The usual notice period ranges from 30 to 120 days, although there are some accounts on the market that require six months or even a year's notice.

By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire , business reporter

Another record month for Heathrow. Last month was the busiest ever March for the UK's biggest airport, the second record-breaking month in a row. 

It was also the busiest Easter weekend as Good Friday became the busiest ever direct departure day, when 118,000 people began their journey at the airport. 

It shows, despite cost of living pressures, lots of Britons were going on holiday.

More good news for Heathrow came earlier this week as planned strike action by 600 border force officers was called off to allow for negotiations in its dispute over working patterns. 

Oil prices are still high, hanging around $90. A barrel of Brent crude oil, the benchmark for oil prices, costs $90.66. The last time prices were this high was in the wake of the 7 October attacks and fears of conflict spreading throughout the Middle East. 

On the currency front, £1 buys $1.2538 and €1.1678.

How old is the average Briton when they buy their first home, or finish paying their mortgage, or retire?

These are some of the questions answered in a "Journeying Through Life" data dump from the Office for National Statistics.

Here are some of the key takeaways...

Home ownership - including the one life event that's happening earlier

People are buying homes later in life, perhaps unsurprisingly given how house prices have risen in the last decade or so.

In 2022, more than half of people owned their own home (either with a mortgage or outright) by the age of 36. 

That's a significant increase on 2004's figures - which showed the average age for home ownership was 32. 

This graph shows what proportion of people own homes at what age.

It isn't all doom and gloom on the homes front, however, with the age at which people own their home outright (ie mortgage paid off) dropping from 63 (in 2004) to 61 in 2020. 

This is pretty much the only life event happening earlier, however.

Retiring later

Again, this probably won't come as a huge surprise, but people are retiring later. 

The age where more than half of people were retired increased from 64 in 2011 to 66 in 2021. ​

There has been a bigger increase in average retirement age for women (from 61 years in 2011, to 66 years in 2021) than for men (from 65 in 2011 to 66 in 2021). 

The ONS says this is because the state pension age for women was increased from 60 to 66 during this time to match men.

Gender pay gap shrinking but still present

The latest data shows that men are still, on the whole, being paid more than women - although the gender pay gap is shown to be shrinking. 

For all employees, the gender pay gap was 14% in 2023 - compared with 20% in 2013.

Despite the gap shrinking, this graph shows that men's hourly wages are higher than women's at nearly all ages. 

The grey shaded area represents the pay gap. 

Another part of the data shows that males start work a touch earlier than women - with half of males in full-time employment by the age of 23 (compared with females at 24) in 2021. 

That data could be explained by the fact that more women attend university - some 319,000 females compared with 285,000 males in 2022.  

Moving out, marrying and having children

The age at which young people move out of their family homes is increasing, too.

In 2011, half of people were not living with their parents at the age of 21 - compared with 24 in 2022. 

More men live with their parents than women, with 61% of adults living at home in 2021 were male.

When it comes to having children, the average age at which women have their first baby has risen to 29.

That's up from an average of just 23 in 1970. 

And finally, marriage.

The median age at first marriage has been steadily increasing since the 1960s. 

For opposite sex couples married in 2020, the median age was 32 years for men and 30 years for women. For those entering into same-sex marriage, the median age was older, at 36 years for men and 32 years for women.

As well as getting married older, fewer people are getting married. In 2019, marriage rates had fallen to their lowest on record. For men, there were 18.6 marriages per 1,000 never-married men; for women, there were 17.2 marriages per 1,000 never-married women.

Spotify has announced it is hiking its subscription prices by up to £24 a year.

It is the second time in less than a year that the music streaming giant has increased its prices.

Here's how the prices will change...

Individual: £11.99 a month (up from £10.99 a month)  

Duo: £16.99 a month (up from £14.99 a month)  

Family: £19.99 a month (up from £17.99 a month) 

When will the change kick in?

The subscription price will change from May and if you are an existing customer Spotify will email you and give you one-month's notice of the change.

If you are on a free trial you will pay the old price for one month once your trial ends.

A Spotify spokesperson told Sky News: "So that we can keep innovating and delivering value to fans, the music industry, and creators on our platform, we occasionally update our prices. 

"We've begun communicating with existing subscribers in the UK to explain what this means for their account."

American burger chain Wendy's will be recruiting for over 400 job roles as part of its expansion across the UK.

The chain returned to the UK in 2021 after a 20-year break and has since opened just over 30 sites, including drive-throughs in Colchester, Peterborough, Derby and Brampton Hut.

But the chain, which was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969, plans to open a further nine sites this year in Liverpool, Middlesbrough, and a second location in Sheffield.

New locations will include Liverpool, Middlesbrough and a second site in Sheffield.

Wendy's franchisee GH Burgers will open a first restaurant in Wood Green, London, this year.

There will also be restaurants in Southend-on-Sea, Colchester, Cambridge and Newcastle.

Michael Clarke, UK managing director for the Wendy's Company, told The Caterer : "We've seen great momentum in building Wendy's fandom in the UK, and the love and excitement for this iconic brand grows stronger with each new restaurant opening."

Changes to visa rules costing people thousands of pounds extra "destroy the notion of the UK as a place where families can thrive", campaigners have said.

The minimum income for family visas rises by more than £10,000 to £29,000 today. 

It will rise further to £38,700 early next year. 

Reunite Families UK claimed the values of family and love are being treated as "as yet another political football to be sacrificed in order to receive better poll or electoral results".

The government says the plans offer "an accelerated and comprehensive programme of reforms" to address "unsustainable" levels of legal migration to the UK.

Justifying its plans, the Home Office said the minimum amount had remained unchanged for more than a decade, and the new measures will help ensure families are self-sufficient and not relying on public funds.

'We just want to be with our families'

Argentinian Eugenia Morales said the uncertainty around her and her baby daughter being able to reunite with her husband in the UK had taken a toll.

The 30-year-old has been with her partner Connor White for three years but is unsure whether - after having their daughter in Argentina - she will be able to join him in England.

She said Mr White, who is based in West Sussex, cannot leave his eldest child from a previous relationship and has been working weekends in his construction job to try to boost his income to the required amount to sponsor his wife.

Ms Morales said she would be looking for a job in the UK and would not have access to benefits while applying on the family visa route anyway.

She told the PA news agency: "We don't want to be a burden to the [welfare] system, we just want to be with our families.

"It's an awful situation. We want to be together, we want the girls to grow up together but this is making it totally impossible."

Caroline Coombs, co-founder of Reunite Families UK, said people are feeling "punished" and "excluded" by the new rules.

Ms Coombs said: "This increase, together with the ones which will come into force in the next 12 months, destroy the notion of the UK as a place where families can thrive."

Athletics will become the first sport to introduce prize money at the Olympics this summer.

World Athletics, the international athletics federation, says it will pay Olympic gold medal winners $50,000 at the Paris games.

The athletics governing body said it is setting aside $2.4m (£1.89m) to pay the gold medallists across 48 events at Paris' track and field programme.

Read the full story here ...

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2024 models of excellence.

4:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Penn Museum, 3260 South St.

Difficult Grace

Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut St.

Earth Week 2024

This is a campuswide week of events, lectures, and volunteer opportunities designed to educate and inspire action related to environmental justice, climate, and nature-based solutions. This year’s theme is Restore & Regenerate.

Various locations

Take Our Children to Work Day

Science & Technology

Understanding the Northeast earthquake

Penn researchers david goldsby and robert carpick discuss the 4.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the east coast..

Last week, people in the Northeast, including many at Penn, experienced an unusual disruption to their day as the ground beneath and walls around started to shake for about half a minute. The magnitude 4.8 earthquake was, for some, a once in a lifetime occurrence. Centered in New Jersey, the quake did little damage.

To learn more about the mechanics of earthquakes and to discuss this rare event, Penn Today spoke with David Goldsby , professor and chair of Earth & Environmental Science in the School of Arts & Sciences , and Robert Carpick , the John Henry Towne Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

What is an earthquake, and what causes quakes like the one that hit the East Coast?

Carpick: Simply put, an earthquake is a sudden and dynamic geologic event caused by the movement of pieces of the Earth’s crust pushing against each other.

Imagine standing on a sidewalk where there’s some dirt and small pebbles between your leading foot and said sidewalk. If you try push that foot forward, it won’t move at first, but with more and more force it’ll eventually slip and might slide quite suddenly.

Goldsby: Over time, as force accumulates, these pieces can no longer withstand the energy without moving, leading to a sudden slip; this is the essence of an earthquake. An earthquake occurs when there’s a sudden displacement along a fault, a crack in the Earth’s crust. Before the earthquake, this fault is ‘locked,’ accumulating stress over time until the force surpasses the fault’s frictional strength, leading to a rapid slip. This process not only causes the ground to shake but also releases accumulated elastic strain energy from the surrounding rocks, which is then partly transformed into seismic waves that propagate from the earthquake’s origin.

Does Philadelphia lie near a fault line?

Carpick: Philadelphia is about 70 miles south of the Ramapo fault zone which runs through New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The closest parts of that fault system are between Doylestown and Easton, Pennsylvania.

Goldsby: Overall, there are certainly myriad faults below and near Philly, but there are no major fault lines that would produce major devastating earthquakes.

Do your research interests overlap with earthquakes?

Carpick: David and I have been funded by the National Science Foundation to look at the underlying physics and mechanics of earthquakes, trying to get at the atomic-level processes that precede the sliding events. It will take a lot of work, but eventually we hope what we’re learning can, combined with the work of many others, lead to ways to actually predict earthquakes and how they will behave.

Penn celebrates operation and benefits of largest solar power project in Pennsylvania

Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

‘The Illuminated Body’ fuses color, light, and sound

A new Arthur Ross Gallery exhibition of work by artist Barbara Earl Thomas features cut-paper portraits reminiscent of stained glass and an immersive installation constructed with intricately cut material lit from behind.

Campus & Community

25 years of ‘LOVE’

The iconic sculpture by pop artist Robert Indiana arrived on campus in 1999 and soon became a natural place to come together.

Health Sciences

Two-and-a-half decades of research in Malawi

As the country’s life expectancy has risen, the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health has shifted its current and future research to aging.

In hot water: Coral resilience in the face of climate change

Over a decade, researchers from Penn studied coral species in Hawaii to better understand their adaptability to the effects of climate change.

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Healthy Living with Diabetes

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How can I plan what to eat or drink when I have diabetes?

How can physical activity help manage my diabetes, what can i do to reach or maintain a healthy weight, should i quit smoking, how can i take care of my mental health, clinical trials for healthy living with diabetes.

Healthy living is a way to manage diabetes . To have a healthy lifestyle, take steps now to plan healthy meals and snacks, do physical activities, get enough sleep, and quit smoking or using tobacco products.

Healthy living may help keep your body’s blood pressure , cholesterol , and blood glucose level, also called blood sugar level, in the range your primary health care professional recommends. Your primary health care professional may be a doctor, a physician assistant, or a nurse practitioner. Healthy living may also help prevent or delay health problems  from diabetes that can affect your heart, kidneys, eyes, brain, and other parts of your body.

Making lifestyle changes can be hard, but starting with small changes and building from there may benefit your health. You may want to get help from family, loved ones, friends, and other trusted people in your community. You can also get information from your health care professionals.

What you choose to eat, how much you eat, and when you eat are parts of a meal plan. Having healthy foods and drinks can help keep your blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels in the ranges your health care professional recommends. If you have overweight or obesity, a healthy meal plan—along with regular physical activity, getting enough sleep, and other healthy behaviors—may help you reach and maintain a healthy weight. In some cases, health care professionals may also recommend diabetes medicines that may help you lose weight, or weight-loss surgery, also called metabolic and bariatric surgery.

Choose healthy foods and drinks

There is no right or wrong way to choose healthy foods and drinks that may help manage your diabetes. Healthy meal plans for people who have diabetes may include

• dairy or plant-based dairy products
• nonstarchy vegetables
• protein foods
• whole grains

Try to choose foods that include nutrients such as vitamins, calcium , fiber , and healthy fats . Also try to choose drinks with little or no added sugar , such as tap or bottled water, low-fat or non-fat milk, and unsweetened tea, coffee, or sparkling water.

Try to plan meals and snacks that have fewer

• foods high in saturated fat
• foods high in sodium, a mineral found in salt
• sugary foods , such as cookies and cakes, and sweet drinks, such as soda, juice, flavored coffee, and sports drinks

Your body turns carbohydrates , or carbs, from food into glucose, which can raise your blood glucose level. Some fruits, beans, and starchy vegetables—such as potatoes and corn—have more carbs than other foods. Keep carbs in mind when planning your meals.

You should also limit how much alcohol you drink. If you take insulin  or certain diabetes medicines , drinking alcohol can make your blood glucose level drop too low, which is called hypoglycemia . If you do drink alcohol, be sure to eat food when you drink and remember to check your blood glucose level after drinking. Talk with your health care team about your alcohol-drinking habits.

Find the best times to eat or drink

Talk with your health care professional or health care team about when you should eat or drink. The best time to have meals and snacks may depend on

• what medicines you take for diabetes
• what your level of physical activity or your work schedule is
• whether you have other health conditions or diseases

Ask your health care team if you should eat before, during, or after physical activity. Some diabetes medicines, such as sulfonylureas  or insulin, may make your blood glucose level drop too low during exercise or if you skip or delay a meal.

Plan how much to eat or drink

You may worry that having diabetes means giving up foods and drinks you enjoy. The good news is you can still have your favorite foods and drinks, but you might need to have them in smaller portions  or enjoy them less often.

For people who have diabetes, carb counting and the plate method are two common ways to plan how much to eat or drink. Talk with your health care professional or health care team to find a method that works for you.

Carb counting

Carbohydrate counting , or carb counting, means planning and keeping track of the amount of carbs you eat and drink in each meal or snack. Not all people with diabetes need to count carbs. However, if you take insulin, counting carbs can help you know how much insulin to take.

Plate method

The plate method helps you control portion sizes  without counting and measuring. This method divides a 9-inch plate into the following three sections to help you choose the types and amounts of foods to eat for each meal.

• Nonstarchy vegetables—such as leafy greens, peppers, carrots, or green beans—should make up half of your plate.
• Carb foods that are high in fiber—such as brown rice, whole grains, beans, or fruits—should make up one-quarter of your plate.
• Protein foods—such as lean meats, fish, dairy, or tofu or other soy products—should make up one quarter of your plate.

If you are not taking insulin, you may not need to count carbs when using the plate method.

Work with your health care team to create a meal plan that works for you. You may want to have a diabetes educator  or a registered dietitian  on your team. A registered dietitian can provide medical nutrition therapy , which includes counseling to help you create and follow a meal plan. Your health care team may be able to recommend other resources, such as a healthy lifestyle coach, to help you with making changes. Ask your health care team or your insurance company if your benefits include medical nutrition therapy or other diabetes care resources.

Talk with your health care professional before taking dietary supplements

There is no clear proof that specific foods, herbs, spices, or dietary supplements —such as vitamins or minerals—can help manage diabetes. Your health care professional may ask you to take vitamins or minerals if you can’t get enough from foods. Talk with your health care professional before you take any supplements, because some may cause side effects or affect how well your diabetes medicines work.

Research shows that regular physical activity helps people manage their diabetes and stay healthy. Benefits of physical activity may include

• lower blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels
• better heart health
• healthier weight
• better mood and sleep
• better balance and memory

Talk with your health care professional before starting a new physical activity or changing how much physical activity you do. They may suggest types of activities based on your ability, schedule, meal plan, interests, and diabetes medicines. Your health care professional may also tell you the best times of day to be active or what to do if your blood glucose level goes out of the range recommended for you.

Do different types of physical activity

People with diabetes can be active, even if they take insulin or use technology such as insulin pumps .

Try to do different kinds of activities . While being more active may have more health benefits, any physical activity is better than none. Start slowly with activities you enjoy. You may be able to change your level of effort and try other activities over time. Having a friend or family member join you may help you stick to your routine.

The physical activities you do may need to be different if you are age 65 or older , are pregnant , or have a disability or health condition . Physical activities may also need to be different for children and teens . Ask your health care professional or health care team about activities that are safe for you.

Aerobic activities

Aerobic activities make you breathe harder and make your heart beat faster. You can try walking, dancing, wheelchair rolling, or swimming. Most adults should try to get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each week. Aim to do 30 minutes a day on most days of the week. You don’t have to do all 30 minutes at one time. You can break up physical activity into small amounts during your day and still get the benefit. 1

Strength training or resistance training

Strength training or resistance training may make your muscles and bones stronger. You can try lifting weights or doing other exercises such as wall pushups or arm raises. Try to do this kind of training two times a week. 1

Balance and stretching activities

Balance and stretching activities may help you move better and have stronger muscles and bones. You may want to try standing on one leg or stretching your legs when sitting on the floor. Try to do these kinds of activities two or three times a week. 1

Some activities that need balance may be unsafe for people with nerve damage or vision problems caused by diabetes. Ask your health care professional or health care team about activities that are safe for you.

Stay safe during physical activity

Staying safe during physical activity is important. Here are some tips to keep in mind.

Drink liquids

Drinking liquids helps prevent dehydration , or the loss of too much water in your body. Drinking water is a way to stay hydrated. Sports drinks often have a lot of sugar and calories , and you don’t need them for most moderate physical activities.

Avoid low blood glucose

Check your blood glucose level before, during, and right after physical activity. Physical activity often lowers the level of glucose in your blood. Low blood glucose levels may last for hours or days after physical activity. You are most likely to have low blood glucose if you take insulin or some other diabetes medicines, such as sulfonylureas.

Ask your health care professional if you should take less insulin or eat carbs before, during, or after physical activity. Low blood glucose can be a serious medical emergency that must be treated right away. Take steps to protect yourself. You can learn how to treat low blood glucose , let other people know what to do if you need help, and use a medical alert bracelet.

Avoid high blood glucose and ketoacidosis

Taking less insulin before physical activity may help prevent low blood glucose, but it may also make you more likely to have high blood glucose. If your body does not have enough insulin, it can’t use glucose as a source of energy and will use fat instead. When your body uses fat for energy, your body makes chemicals called ketones .

High levels of ketones in your blood can lead to a condition called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) . DKA is a medical emergency that should be treated right away. DKA is most common in people with type 1 diabetes . Occasionally, DKA may affect people with type 2 diabetes  who have lost their ability to produce insulin. Ask your health care professional how much insulin you should take before physical activity, whether you need to test your urine for ketones, and what level of ketones is dangerous for you.

Take care of your feet

People with diabetes may have problems with their feet because high blood glucose levels can damage blood vessels and nerves. To help prevent foot problems, wear comfortable and supportive shoes and take care of your feet  before, during, and after physical activity.

If you have diabetes, managing your weight  may bring you several health benefits. Ask your health care professional or health care team if you are at a healthy weight  or if you should try to lose weight.

If you are an adult with overweight or obesity, work with your health care team to create a weight-loss plan. Losing 5% to 7% of your current weight may help you prevent or improve some health problems  and manage your blood glucose, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels. 2 If you are worried about your child’s weight  and they have diabetes, talk with their health care professional before your child starts a new weight-loss plan.

You may be able to reach and maintain a healthy weight by

• following a healthy meal plan
• consuming fewer calories
• being physically active
• getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night 3

If you have type 2 diabetes, your health care professional may recommend diabetes medicines that may help you lose weight.

Online tools such as the Body Weight Planner  may help you create eating and physical activity plans. You may want to talk with your health care professional about other options for managing your weight, including joining a weight-loss program  that can provide helpful information, support, and behavioral or lifestyle counseling. These options may have a cost, so make sure to check the details of the programs.

Your health care professional may recommend weight-loss surgery  if you aren’t able to reach a healthy weight with meal planning, physical activity, and taking diabetes medicines that help with weight loss.

If you are pregnant , trying to lose weight may not be healthy. However, you should ask your health care professional whether it makes sense to monitor or limit your weight gain during pregnancy.

Both diabetes and smoking —including using tobacco products and e-cigarettes—cause your blood vessels to narrow. Both diabetes and smoking increase your risk of having a heart attack or stroke , nerve damage , kidney disease , eye disease , or amputation . Secondhand smoke can also affect the health of your family or others who live with you.

If you smoke or use other tobacco products, stop. Ask for help . You don’t have to do it alone.

Feeling stressed, sad, or angry can be common for people with diabetes. Managing diabetes or learning to cope with new information about your health can be hard. People with chronic illnesses such as diabetes may develop anxiety or other mental health conditions .

Learn healthy ways to lower your stress , and ask for help from your health care team or a mental health professional. While it may be uncomfortable to talk about your feelings, finding a health care professional whom you trust and want to talk with may help you

• lower your feelings of stress, depression, or anxiety
• manage problems sleeping or remembering things
• see how diabetes affects your family, school, work, or financial situation

Ask your health care team for mental health resources for people with diabetes.

Sleeping too much or too little may raise your blood glucose levels. Your sleep habits may also affect your mental health and vice versa. People with diabetes and overweight or obesity can also have other health conditions that affect sleep, such as sleep apnea , which can raise your blood pressure and risk of heart disease.

NIDDK conducts and supports clinical trials in many diseases and conditions, including diabetes. The trials look to find new ways to prevent, detect, or treat disease and improve quality of life.

What are clinical trials for healthy living with diabetes?

Clinical trials—and other types of clinical studies —are part of medical research and involve people like you. When you volunteer to take part in a clinical study, you help health care professionals and researchers learn more about disease and improve health care for people in the future.

Researchers are studying many aspects of healthy living for people with diabetes, such as

• how changing when you eat may affect body weight and metabolism
• how less access to healthy foods may affect diabetes management, other health problems, and risk of dying
• whether low-carbohydrate meal plans can help lower blood glucose levels
• which diabetes medicines are more likely to help people lose weight

Find out if clinical trials are right for you .

Watch a video of NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers explaining the importance of participating in clinical trials.

What clinical trials for healthy living with diabetes are looking for participants?

You can view a filtered list of clinical studies on healthy living with diabetes that are federally funded, open, and recruiting at www.ClinicalTrials.gov . You can expand or narrow the list to include clinical studies from industry, universities, and individuals; however, the National Institutes of Health does not review these studies and cannot ensure they are safe for you. Always talk with your primary health care professional before you participate in a clinical study.

This content is provided as a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings to increase knowledge and understanding about health and disease among patients, health professionals, and the public. Content produced by NIDDK is carefully reviewed by NIDDK scientists and other experts.

NIDDK would like to thank: Elizabeth M. Venditti, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.