95% of companies assess the four-day week experiment as positive

95% of the approximately forty companies that joined the "Four-Day Week Pilot Project" in Portugal assessed the experiment positively. It began in June and unrolled over six months.

The findings were presented on Tuesday by the project coordinators, Pedro Gomes (Economics Professor, Birkbeck, University of London) and Rita Fontinha (Assistant Human Resource Strategic Management Professor, Henley Business School, Reading University), ad indicate high satisfaction levels by both the companies and workers involved.

Concretely, from the workers questioned, one notes the gain in terms of work/life balance (professional, personal, and family life). Whereas before the project this was a difficult or very difficult balance to strike for 46% of those involved, the percentage dropped to 8% after almost six months of this experiment.

65% of the workers stated they spent more time with their family after the working days were cut. This is also reflected in a 19% reduction in work-related exhaust symptoms. The frequency of other negative effects on mental health also dropped: anxiety level dropped 21%, fatigue 23%, insomnia or sleep disturbances 19%.

On average, the four-day week experiment represented cutting weekly hours by 13.7%, from an average of 39.3 to 34 hours, reported by the companies. In 58,8% of companies, a free day a week was offered. 41,5% chose to have nine working days per fortnight.

Of the workers questioned, a vast majority – 85% – would consider switching to a company with a five-day week, after working in a company operating on a four-day week basis, with a wage increase greater than 20%.

This pilot project, which began in June 2023, aims at providing a six-month experiment in implementing a four-day week, voluntary and reversible, without a financial benefit from the State, simply with technical and administrative assistance from the Employment and Vocational Training Institute (IEFP). 

The 41 companies that took part are located in 10 districts (Lisbon, Porto, and Braga as the main locations) and operate mostly in the social, industry, and trade sectors.

The Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, who closed the ceremony to present the report, thanked the 41 companies and workers who "ventured into the unknown" by joining the initiative and considered this is a "winning" project that is already being replicated in Belgium.