Iceland's 4-Day Workweek Trial Achieves "Overwhelming Success"

Iceland's trial for a four-day workweek strategy achieved "overwhelming success," media agencies reported on Tuesday.

The new study was applied to 2,500 workers which was 1% of Iceland's working population, and the trial lasted from 2015 to 2019. Moreover, it was conducted by the Association for Sustainable Democracy (Alda), and Autonomy thinktank.

The Director of Research at Autonomy said: "It shows that the public sector is ripe for being a pioneer of shorter working weeks, and lessons can be learned for other governments."

The participants worked for 35-36 hours in a week without any cuts of the wages, therefore, "Worker's wellbeing dramatically increased across a range of indicators, from perceived stress and burnout to health and work-life balance."

Also, the trial was applied to several workplaces such as governmental institutions, hospitals, and Reykjavik City Council.

Furthermore, "Productivity and service provision remained the same or improved across the majority of trial workplaces," according to Alda.

The new findings asserted the possibility of reducing working hours and achieving better productivity as workers became more psychologically and physically balanced.