Count total weekly working hours before comparing workweek labels. A reduced-hours four-day week cuts the number of hours worked; compressed hours fit broadly the same weekly hours into fewer, longer shifts. So four 10-hour days in a 40-hour week are compressed hours, not a reduction in working time.
How is a four-day workweek different from compressed hours?
“Four-day workweek” can describe different arrangements. The defining question is whether total weekly work time falls, not simply whether someone works four days.
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- Reduced-hours four-day week: weekly hours decrease, potentially with pay maintained. The hours might be taken off as a full day or reduced across several days.
- Compressed hours: weekly hours stay broadly the same but are worked in fewer, longer shifts. A 40-hour week worked as four 10-hour days is one example.
In the UK trial, Professor Brendan Burchell described a four-day week as shorthand for a 20% reduction in working time and explicitly distinguished it from longer days without reduced hours. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), 18 July 2023.
What changes in practice?
| Question | Reduced-hours four-day week | Compressed hours |
|---|---|---|
| Total weekly hours | Lower than the previous schedule | Broadly maintained |
| Daily shifts | May stay similar or change modestly, depending on the model | Longer shifts are characteristic |
| Pay | May be maintained in a trial or agreement; check the actual policy | Depends on the employer agreement and applicable local rules |
| Main operational test | Can workload, output and coverage be redesigned around fewer hours? | Can longer shifts be sustained, and how will coverage work on the off day? |
| Potential trade-off | More non-work time, but work may feel more intense if workload is not adjusted | A full day off, balanced against longer shifts and possible fatigue or recovery concerns |
Labels and legal treatment differ by location and employer. When comparing proposals, write down actual weekly hours, shift lengths, pay, days off and coverage rather than relying on the name of the schedule.
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What does the evidence say about reduced hours?
UK six-month pilot
A UK pilot ran from June to December 2022. Sixty-one organisations committed to a 20% reduction in hours without a pay reduction for the trial. In UKRI’s 2024 summary, 90% of participating workers wanted to continue at the end. Workers reported lower stress (39%), lower burnout (more than two thirds) and fewer sleep difficulties (40%). Participating organisations reported a 65% reduction in sick days and a 57% fall in staff leaving.
Average revenue rose 1.4% during the trial among the 23 organisations that could provide revenue data. That figure is not a controlled estimate of causal profit growth and does not represent all 61 organisations. The pilot was voluntary and participating organisations selected into it, so its outcomes are not guaranteed for other workplaces. UKRI also describes firms using technology and shorter meetings to reduce hours without compromising productivity in some cases; that does not establish a universal productivity guarantee. UKRI, 31 October 2024.
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Multi-country study
A separate 2025 study analysed pre- and post-trial data from 2,896 employees across 141 organisations in six countries; 12 companies served as controls. The intervention group showed improvements in burnout, job satisfaction, mental health and physical health, unlike the control companies. These findings support the possibility of benefits from reduced working time, but do not show that every four-day schedule—or compressed hours—will produce the same results. PubMed, Nature Human Behaviour, 2025.
What are the risks of compressed schedules?
A 2025 systematic review of 20 studies found mixed results across health, wellbeing, safety and performance. The reviewers reported moderate support for greater schedule satisfaction, as well as moderate support for increased sickness absence in compressed schedules—particularly extended shifts of at least 12 hours in analyses controlling for weekly hours. Across the 15 studies that examined health and wellbeing, 11 found at least one significantly negative outcome, 10 at least one non-significant outcome, and six at least one significantly positive outcome. These categories overlap because a study could report several kinds of outcome.
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The review included different shift-work settings and schedule lengths. Its results are not a precise estimate for every office-based four-by-ten arrangement. Treat shift length as an important part of the decision, and track fatigue, sleep, recovery, absence and schedule satisfaction rather than assuming that any extra day off outweighs longer shifts. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2025.
Will productivity stay the same?
There is no universal answer. The OECD says productivity effects of reducing normal working hours are less studied than the effects of long hours and vary by setting. Its review notes differing findings from French and Korean reforms and an experiment among Dutch call-centre workers in which hourly productivity declined as effective hours increased. Those context-specific findings do not establish what will happen in a particular organisation.
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Measure service quality and output alongside hours, workload and staffing. A schedule that preserves output in one workplace does not prove the same arrangement will work elsewhere. OECD Employment Outlook 2022.
How should an employer choose between reducing and compressing hours?
Start with the goal
Decide whether the aim is to reduce total working time or to rearrange it. If the goal is less work time, a compressed schedule does not achieve it. If the goal is a different distribution of working days, compression may fit—but longer shifts and their effects need assessment.
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Set the terms and involve employees
Consult employees and representatives before setting the schedule. Define weekly hours, pay, shift length, days off, workload expectations, handovers and required coverage. Protecting pay alone is not enough if the same workload is squeezed into fewer or longer days.
Pilot and compare like with like
Establish a baseline, then run a pilot long enough to observe meaningful operational and workforce effects. Compare the new schedule with that baseline using measures such as:
- Employee-reported wellbeing and workload intensity
- Output, service levels and quality
- Absence, retention and staffing coverage
- Pay and unit cost
- Sleep, fatigue and recovery, especially for longer shifts
- Employee voice, handovers and customer access
Eurofound recommends evaluating implementation and comparing the economic, social and environmental effects of reduced-time four-day weeks with compressed schedules, including stakeholder involvement and longer-term effects. Its working paper also highlights the need to consider coverage and how a model operates in practice. Eurofound working paper, 2023.
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Which option fits the question you are trying to answer?
- If the aim is fewer total hours with pay maintained, assess a reduced-hours model and plan how to adjust workload and coverage.
- If the aim is fewer workdays while keeping weekly hours, assess compressed hours and pay particular attention to shift length, recovery and absence.
- If the aim is better wellbeing or productivity, set measures in advance and evaluate both; neither schedule label guarantees a particular result.
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