The evidence of a shorter working week in Iceland has been hailed by researchers as an “extraordinary success”.
Public sector employees participating in two major trials between 2015 and 2019 worked 35-36 hours per week, with no pay cuts. Many participants had previously worked 40 hours a week.
Evidence led by Reykjavík City Council and the national government saw workers’ well-being “dramatically” increase in a range of indicators, from perceived stress and fatigue, to the balance of life and work, according to researchers from the Autonomy and Research Organization Association for Sustainable Democracy (Alda), reports cnn.
The trials involved 2,500 people – more than 1 per cent of Iceland’s population – and aimed to maintain or increase productivity by improving work-life balance. The researchers found that productivity and services remained the same or improved in most jobs.
“Autonomy and Alba”, who advocate for a shorter working week, analyzed the data from the evidence, Telegrafi reports.
Following the tests, the Icelandic unions negotiated a reduction in working hours for tens of thousands of their members across the country.
About 86 per cent of Iceland’s entire working population is now working shorter hours, or have earned the right to cut their working hours.
A growing number of small businesses have already adopted a shorter working week – and now, larger corporations are investigating the potential benefits of change.
New Zealand announced in December that it would try a four-day full-time work week following a change in work habits caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Microsoft tested a four-day workweek in Japan in 2019 and said productivity, measured by sales per employee, increased by nearly 40 percent compared to the same period last year.