Microsoft Japan trialed a four day week and saw a 40% increase in productivity

I’m keen to see four day working weeks crop up in the headlines more often, so I’m doubly pleased Microsoft Japan have given me an excuse to write one. They conducted an experiment over the summer where employees were granted special paid leave on five sequential Fridays, who then reported greater happiness while the company reported a 40% increase in productivity. Everybody won, in other words, especially considering the employees reportedly worked no additional hours during their blessedly shorter weeks.

Of course the idea isn’t going to work for literally every employee in every industry, but this is one of many experiments that have successfully demonstrated the potential benefits of working less. Betcha can’t guess which British political party is currently pushing for the idea.

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