Table of Contents Hide

Is 2026 Finally the Year?
The Numbers Are Stunning
What the Science Says
1. The Microsoft Japan Experiment
Companies Actually Doing It Right Now
How Different Companies Structure It
What About Belgium’s Experiment?
The Tokyo Metro Government’s Move
How to Find These Companies
The Skeptics Have Questions
What’s Driving This in 2026?
If You Want to Pitch This at Your Company
The Reality Check
What You Can Do Right Now
Additional Resources

The 4-day work week isn’t just a pipe dream anymore—hundreds of companies worldwide have permanently adopted it, reporting increased productivity, happier employees, and better retention. With AI making this shift more feasible than ever, 2026 could be the tipping point for mainstream adoption.

Is 2026 Finally the Year?

Remember when working from home was considered a “nice to have” perk reserved for tech startups? Now it’s table stakes at most knowledge-based companies. The 4-day work week might be next.

Business titans including Bill Gates have made bold predictions that the workweek will soon be reduced to four days—or shorter. And these aren’t just idle predictions from people disconnected from reality. Governments and employers are already testing what less work might look like in practice.

Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom, told The New York Times: “I feel like if AI can make all of our lives better, why do we need to work for five days a week? Every company will support three days, four days a week. I think this ultimately frees up everyone’s time.”

Even JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has weighed in on AI’s potential to shorten the workweek. Though he has acknowledged short-term disruption and job displacement, he has emphasized that technological progress has historically raised living standards.

But forget the predictions—let’s talk about what’s actually happening right now in 2026.

The Numbers Are Stunning

Right now, we have 407 four-day work week companies across 27 countries. And these aren’t just small startups testing things out—major companies across industries have made the switch permanent.

The results from global trials are hard to ignore:

A trial conducted by 4 Day Week Global, the 4 Day Week Foundation, and the Autonomy Institute involving multiple companies in the UK, U.S., Canada, and Ireland had astounding results:

Weekly hours declined to an average of 32.97 hours after a year (down from the standard 40)
57% of employees saw increased productivity
40% experienced less stress
69% experienced reductions in burnout
Companies saw revenue and productivity increases

Even more telling: In 2023, the UK think-tank Autonomy Research conducted the world’s largest four-day week trial, surveying 61 companies. Almost 90% of the companies that took part in the trial are still practicing the four-day week a year later, with over half making it a permanent policy.

That’s not “companies trying it and reverting back.” That’s companies making it work and sticking with it.

What the Science Says

Henry Ford figured this out almost 100 years ago. He was the first to examine productivity and noted that it decreased the more people worked. Because of this finding, he created the standard 40-hour workweek to maintain consistent productivity.

Modern research backs this up in spades. When it comes to productivity, more working hours actually equal less of it, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD ranked Mexico, clocking in with the highest average workweek, as the least productive country. The top four most productive countries—Luxembourg, Ireland, Norway and Belgium—all track less than 30 hours per week on average.

Translation: We’ve been doing it wrong this whole time.

The Microsoft Japan Experiment

One of the most compelling case studies comes from Microsoft Japan. In Japan, Microsoft tested a four-day, 32-hour workweek and found that although workers were on the clock 20% less than before, productivity jumped by 40%. Employees reported being happier and more focused during working hours, and the company found that people used less time off.

The kicker? Microsoft Japan reduced costs by 23% a month in electricity charges alone while testing the four-day workweek. As a result, they moved to permanently implement it.

Companies Actually Doing It Right Now

Let’s get specific. Here are companies that have either permanently adopted or are actively trialing 4-day work weeks in 2026:

Healthcare Tech

Healthie – A SaaS company offering infrastructure for virtual-first healthcare organizations. Listed on Built In’s 2026 list of NYC companies with 4-day work weeks.

How Different Companies Structure It

Here’s where it gets interesting: There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. We have 407 companies with 11 variations of working hours per week. The main models are:

The 32-Hour Week (4 days, 8 hours each)

This is the most common model—employees work four 8-hour days for full-time pay. No compressed hours, no catch. This is what Microsoft Japan, Bolt, and Kickstarter do.

The Compressed Week (4 days, 10 hours each)

Some companies keep the 40-hour week but compress it into four 10-hour days. In fact, 77% of US workers said they’d rather work ten hours a day to enjoy a longer weekend.

The Summer Schedule

Companies like Basecamp offer 4-day weeks during summer months only. This is a lower-risk way for companies to test the concept.

The Every-Other-Week Model

Some companies alternate, giving employees a three-day weekend every other week. DNSFilter uses this approach.

What About Belgium’s Experiment?

You might have heard that Belgium was the first country to offer a 4-day work week. That’s… sort of true.

Belgium became the first country to move towards 4-day workweeks, giving all employees the right to request a compressed workweek. However, it’s ultimately still down to employers whether they accept requests.

The result? Only 0.8% of Belgian employees had transitioned to 4-day workweeks a year after introducing the initiative.

The lesson: Giving people the “right to request” isn’t the same as actually implementing the change.

The Tokyo Metro Government’s Move

More promising? The Tokyo metropolitan government now allows employees to work four days a week, while some companies in the U.S. have begun treating Fridays as flexible days rather than mandatory days.

How to Find These Companies

If you’re actively job hunting and want to work for a company with a 4-day week, here are your resources:

4dayweek.io – The #1 job board for companies with a shorter work week. You can browse by location, industry, and type of role.

FlexJobs – Maintains a list of 50+ remote companies with 4-day work week jobs.

Buildremote – Tracks 407 four-day work week companies across 27 countries with detailed information on their specific models.

Built In – Has location-specific lists for cities like NYC and LA.

The Skeptics Have Questions

Let’s address the elephant in the room: Can this actually work for most companies, or just tech startups?

“Customer service can’t just close on Fridays”

True. But companies are getting creative. Some stagger schedules so the office is covered Monday-Friday, just with different teams. Goosechase acknowledged some challenges for customer-facing roles, but found the benefits far outweigh any cons.

“What about manufacturing and retail?”

Iceland’s trials focused specifically on public sector workers, not just desk jobs. Iceland conducted extensive trials of reduced working hours, where public sector employees worked fewer hours for the same pay. These trials were highly successful and led to the adoption of shorter workweeks across many workplaces.

“Won’t this hurt the business?”

The data says no. In 2023, the UK’s trial of 61 companies found that not only were employees happier, organizations were frequently more productive, more efficient, and had a higher level of staff retention.

What’s Driving This in 2026?

Three major forces are converging to make the 4-day work week more feasible than ever:

AI and Automation

Continued gains in productivity—driven in part by automation and AI—could accelerate these scheduling experiments and reignite broader debates about how people can thrive in a world where human labor may no longer be essential for economic growth.

The Great Resignation’s Legacy

In a survey of Americans ages 22 to 35 who had recently resigned from their jobs, 80% of participants supported a four-day workweek. Companies are finally listening.

Proven Success Stories

Data suggests that many companies are considering making the switch. A KPMG survey reported that 30% of large US companies are exploring new work schedules, including four, and four and half-day weeks.

If You Want to Pitch This at Your Company

Thinking about proposing a 4-day work week at your current company? Here’s your ammunition:

Frame It as a Pilot Program

Don’t ask for a permanent change right away. Propose a 6-month trial with clear metrics to measure success: productivity, employee satisfaction, retention, sick days, recruitment.

Lead With the Business Case

Retention: 90% of trial companies kept the policy because it worked
Recruitment: It’s a massive competitive advantage in hiring
Productivity: Microsoft saw a 40% increase
Costs: Reduced electricity, office supplies, and potentially real estate
Sick days: Employees take fewer sick days when they’re less burned out

Address the Concerns Upfront

Don’t pretend there aren’t challenges. Show you’ve thought about coverage, deadlines, client expectations, and have solutions ready.

Start Small

Maybe it begins with one team, or summer Fridays, or every-other-week. Show it can work before scaling.

The Reality Check

Let’s be honest: The 4-day work week isn’t going to work for every company or every industry—at least not right away. And that’s okay.

But the trend is undeniable. The number of four-day week companies has increased by 100 since 2020. Major business leaders are publicly endorsing it. Successful trials are multiplying.

The question isn’t whether this will become more common—it’s how fast.

And for those of us stuck in traditional 5-day schedules, watching companies like Kickstarter, Bolt, and Microsoft Japan prove this works? It’s getting harder to accept that “because we’ve always done it this way” is a good enough reason to keep doing it.

What You Can Do Right Now

Whether you’re job hunting or staying put:

If you’re looking for a new job: Use the resources above to target companies that have already made the switch. Don’t settle for companies that claim to value “work-life balance” but still require you in the office 5 days a week.

If you’re staying at your current company: Start the conversation. Forward this article to your manager. Bring it up in skip-level meetings. Plant the seed.

If you’re a manager: Consider piloting this with your team. You might be surprised at what happens when people have time to actually live their lives.

The future of work doesn’t have to look like the past. Hundreds of companies are already proving that.

Additional Resources

4 Day Week – Job Board
Build Remote – Complete List of 407 Companies
4 Day Week Global – Organization facilitating trials and providing resources
FlexJobs – 50+ Remote Companies with 4-Day Weeks
Built In NYC – Companies with 4-Day Weeks

Related WMN Articles:

The 4-Day Work Week: Which Companies Are Actually Doing It in 2026