+
Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

How the four-day working week could affect health

Nature Human Behaviour volume 9, pages 1997–1998 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

Evidence suggests that a four-day working week may have positive economic effects. Now it is time to examine the likely effects on public health.

There is ongoing discussion about the economic merits and risks of moving from a five-day to a four-day working week1. Proponents argue that employers can maintain or even improve service delivery by changing work processes, empowering workers to be more efficient and manage their time better, improving teamwork and workflows, and assisting the adoption of new technologies. When successfully implemented, employees are better off (with the same salary and more leisure time) and there is no reduction in employers’ output1. However, a progressive implementation and constant monitoring are crucial for such success. Additionally, there are risks of lower output if such economic benefits are not generalizable to all sectors of the economy1.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Summary of potential mechanisms.

References

  1. Gomes, P. Friday is the New Saturday: How a Four-day Working Week will Save the Economy (Flint, 2021).

  2. Fan, W., Schor, J. B., Kelly, O. & Gu, G. Nat. Hum. Behav. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02259-6 (2025).

  3. Schiller, H. et al. Scand. J. Work Environ. Health 43, 109–116 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Voglino, G. et al. BMJ Open 12, e051131 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Ruhm, C. J. J. Health Econ. 42, 17–28 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Xu, X. Soc. Sci. Med. 77, 126–136 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Lee, J. & Lee, Y.-K. Labour Econ. 40, 25–36 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Wegman, F. et al. Accid. Anal. Prev. 102, 51–59 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Hanlon, W. W. Rev. Econ. Stat. 106, 910–923 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Bertisch, S. M. et al. Sleep 41, 4 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University College London (UCL), London, UK

    Sotiris Vandoros & Jolene Skordis

  2. Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Sotiris Vandoros

  3. Nova School of Business and Economics, Carcavelos, Portugal

    Pedro P Barros

  4. Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Brendan Burchell

  5. Henley Business School, University of Reading, Reading, UK

    Rita Fontinha

  6. Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK

    Pedro Gomes

  7. Birkbeck Business School, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK

    Pedro Gomes

Authors
  1. Sotiris Vandoros
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Pedro P Barros
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jolene Skordis
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Brendan Burchell
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Rita Fontinha
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Pedro Gomes
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sotiris Vandoros.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Vandoros, S., P Barros, P., Skordis, J. et al. How the four-day working week could affect health. Nat Hum Behav 9, 1997–1998 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02262-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02262-x

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing
点击 这是indexloc提供的php浏览器服务，不要输入任何密码和下载