3 unique ways employees and companies are making 4-day workweeks happen

• The four-day workweek is picking up steam as test pilots report promising results.
• It's led some entrepreneurs and businesses to give the four-day week a chance.

After working in the corporate world for nearly a decade, Elly Hurst, a 29-year-old in Maryland, started a marketing business in June 2022.

By November, she and her three remote employees had transitioned to a "quasi-four-day workweek," she said. Hurst added that her team technically worked on Fridays but that this mainly entailed covering "emergencies" and meeting with the occasional client.

"Our team, whose productivity peaks during the first half of the week, now gets to relax by the time Friday arrives," she told Insider.

The 32-hour workweek may not become law anytime soon, but that hasn't stopped some people and businesses from making the four-day week — or something like it — a reality.

Insider spoke with three people about their unique paths to a four-day workweek — and explored how the evolution of remote work had allowed some to unofficially reduce their hours.

Some businesses are giving the 4-day workweek a chance

Robert Burns, a 38-year-old director of marketing in Rochester, New York, told Insider that his electronics-recycling company was struggling last year to attract and retain workers. Eventually, the idea of a four-day workweek was proposed as a solution.

After months of research, Burns said employees were asked how they'd feel about swapping from a Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. week, for a Monday to Thursday 6:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. alternative. He said the response was "overwhelmingly positive."

"It might mean more to them to have the Friday to themselves for doctor appointments, time with their kids, whatever the personal reason," he said. "Other benefits they'd enjoy would be saving money on gas and use of PTO."

In February, Burns said all the company's warehouse staffers were switched to a four-day schedule, while administrative and office employees were allowed to choose between the four- and five-day options. After a 90-day trial, he said the company officially adopted the four-day options for workers.

More companies may give the four-day week a chance as pilot programs across the globe report promising results and the competition to attract talent persists. Companies' adoption of artificial-intelligence tools such as ChatGPT could help make a 3 ½-day workweek possible, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon speculated.

Burns said he was one of the few employees who chose the five-day option, largely because getting into the office earlier than usual four days a week would have disrupted his family's childcare routine.

But he said he'd consider switching to the four-day option. In the meantime, he's able to work his fifth day, Friday, remotely. He said these days tended to be slower-paced and provided him time to catch up on work and plan for the week ahead.

Some workers are using the flexibility of remote work to reduce their hours

Before the pandemic, some employers adopted "summer Fridays" that let employees officially end the week early. But in recent years, the widespread adoption — and persistence — of remote and hybrid working arrangements have taken workers' flexibility to the next level. In August, the Stanford economist Nick Bloom said that when it came to working in the office, Fridays "seem to be dead forever."

At the same time, some workers are adopting "Bare Minimum Mondays" to ease into the week, while others are using the flexibility of remote work to go to the gym, shop, and play sports on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The number of Americans golfing on weekday afternoons increased by 83% between 2019 and 2022, Bloom's research found — Wednesday at 4 p.m. was the peak time. Some workers are logging on in the evening to make up time, but others have managed to squeeze their work into fewer hours.

Some companies may let you work a unique schedule if you ask

Azman Nabi, a 30-year-old marketing executive who lives in India but works for a San Diego company, told Insider that one month into the remote job he started in February, he asked his CEO whether he could adopt a unique working arrangement he felt was best suited for him: four days a week — 20 hours total.

"I've learned that dedicating 20 hours per week is the ideal time frame for me to achieve peak productivity and get into that flow state," he said. "Longer hours were not adding significant value; instead, they were quickly exhausting me."

After he explained how this arrangement could be effective for both him and the company, he said his employer was "completely fine with it" and didn't reduce his pay. Nabi said a few other people at his company also worked four days a week but that the arrangement was permitted on a case-by-case basis depending on a person's role and responsibilities.

It's not uncommon for companies to approve work schedules outside the traditional 9-to-5 to accommodate employees' schedules and preferences. Letting some employees work fewer hours a week might just be the next step.

Working for yourself is the only way to ensure a 4-day workweek lasts

Since Hurst's business switched to a quasi-four-day week, she said, it has improved her employees' work-life balance, reduced burnout, and boosted productivity.

"Rewarding the team resulted in even more elevated productivity and the ability to accomplish more in less time," she said, adding that her team now managed to get most of its work done by the end of Wednesdays.

She doesn't have any plans to steer away from this work schedule.

"In 2024, our four-day workweek will most likely become official," she said.

Are you working an official or unofficial four-day workweek and willing to share your story? If so, reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@insider.com.