Iceland's four-day work week trial an "overwhelming success"

The trial of a four-day work week conducted in Iceland between 2015 and 2019 led to an increase in productivity ad led to workers overall working fewer hours per week, researchers have revealed.

A little more than 1% of Iceland's working population took part in the pilot which cut the number of hours worked per week to around 35 without taking a cut to their pay.

A similar scheme has recently been proposed in Japan, following successful trials in other countries.

Read more: Japan proposes four-day work week

Both New Zealand and Spain are also set to conduct trials into the effects of a four-day week on its workers.

The Iceland trial was conducted by the nation's government alongside Reykjavík city council and ultimately included 2,500 people following pressure from trade unions and workers groups.

The researchers described the pilot as an "overwhelming success" which included jobs from a number of fields, including pre-school workers, office roles, social service providers and hospital staff. A joint report from the  UK-based think tank Autonomy and the Association for Sustainable Democracy (Alda) Iceland noted significant increases in productivity and wellbeing in participants.

This includes reductions in stress, overall better work-life balance, more time for hobbies and other commitments, such as housework, and reduced burnout were present in nearly all focus groups.

Trade unionists and workers rights activists, who often negotiate worker wages with employers, have already begun to negotiate shorter working weeks as a result. The report suggests as many as 86% of workers in Iceland are now working fewer hours per week for the same pay, or have gained the right to, thanks to the tests.

Will Stronge, the director of research at Autonomy, said: “This study shows that the world’s largest-ever trial of a shorter working week in the public sector was by all measures an overwhelming success. It shows that the public sector is ripe for being a pioneer of shorter working weeks – and lessons can be learned for other governments.

“Iceland has taken a big step towards the four-day working week, providing a great real-life example for Local Councils and those in the UK public sector considering implementing it here in the UK.”

Alda researcher Gudmundur D. Haraldsson added: “The Icelandic shorter working week journey tells us that not only is it possible to work less in modern times, but that progressive change is possible too.

“Our roadmap to a shorter working week in the public sector should be of interest to anyone who wishes to see working hours reduced."

Late last year, consumer goods company Unilever revealed it would test a four-day work week on 81 employees in New Zealand to see if it should be applied to its 155,000 workers worldwide.

Read more: Unilever to trial four-day work week in New Zealand

The move was an experiment to see how removing one day from the average workweek will bring any changes to the way the employees work.

Workers on the trial would have rotating shifts with one day per week off.

Part-time workers were also presented with an opportunity to work 80% of their normal hours for 100% of the pay.

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