The way that businesses operate is changing a lot and the standard 40 hour work week is starting to fall out of fashion. A lot of companies are moving toward using remote workers and some business owners have even decided to cut the work week down to 4 days. A lot of people assume that a 4 day work week is far less productive because you’re losing a day of work each week, but businesses that have adopted the practice will tell you otherwise. There are actually a lot of great benefits to the 4 day work week and it’s definitely something that your business should consider. These are just some of the reasons that a 4 day work week could be a good move for your business. 

People Take Less Time Off 

When people are overworked and stressed, they’re more likely to take time off. We all lead very busy lives and a lot of the time, the weekend just doesn’t feel long enough. You spend so much time dealing with other chores and errands that you never actually get around to relaxing, and that means people aren’t getting the break that they need. In a lot of cases, that leads to more days off. But giving people that one extra day at the start or end of the weekend means that they actually have time to relax and blow off steam, and so they take less time off outside of the weekends, which leads to higher productivity. 

It’s Just As Efficient 

You might assume that less work gets done because employees are working hours but that isn’t true at all. If you’re calculating hours with a timesheet app like Deputy’s, you can get an idea of exactly how many hours people are working. You’ll find that when people are clocking 40 plus hours, they’ll actually get the same amount of work done if they were doing 32 hours a week. It’s worth cutting down hours and seeing if there is a change in output, most of the time, you’ll find that there isn’t. People will usually take fewer breaks and work more efficiently so they get the same amount done in a shorter period of time. 

It Improves Employee Well Being 

This is very important because when employees are unhappy and overworked, they’re not very productive at all. Mental health in the workplace is a big issue, especially for millennials, and a lot of problems are associated with stress. People are overworked because they simply don’t have enough time for themselves, but having an extra day off each week does a lot to improve their work life balance and help them to reduce stress. It’s only a small change but it makes all of the difference. The extra day off also helps people to stay organized in their personal lives, which goes a long way toward reducing stress. 

The 4 day work week doesn’t seem like a good idea on the face of it but it can actually massively increase productivity and make your employees a lot happier, so it’s worth considering.