There’s been a lot in the press about the pros and cons of the 4-day week, but if you really want to understand what’s involved, there’s nothing like hearing from leaders and organizations that have done it themselves.
This is a list of articles, blog posts, and other writings from companies that have done it themselves, and really get into the weeds about how they moved to a 4-day week and how it went. Having worked with hundreds of companies, nonprofits, and governments, I’ve selected accounts that are especially rich in practical advice about designing and implementing a 4-day week.
The page is divided it into two main sections:
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The first are organizations that I’ve worked with in my capacity as a director at 4 Day Week Global; the second are interesting accounts from other organizations.
Aeolidia: Founder Arianne Foulks writes about "How Switching to a Four Day Week Improves Productivity" at Aeolidia, a design firm specializing in Shopify store design and an alum of our 2022 program. "For us, the aim of adopting a four day week was not to become a more laid-back place that does less," she writes. "Our aim was to keep our team’s minds sharp and motivated to strategize on our projects." This FAQ was written for clients to explain what they would get from the shift.
Advanced RV: The Cleveland area maker of custom RVs was part of our 2022 US trial. The wrote about the experience four months in, and also were the subject of a local TV news profile in June 2023 after the 4-day week had become permanent.
Bookishly: Louise Verity’ founder of UK trial alum Bookishly, talks to Shopify about their 4-day week. “A four-day work week might seem unachievable for many business owners. How could you possibly squeeze everything you and your employees do into just four days? Perhaps you don’t want to lose productivity or fall behind competitors. For online retailers, that might mean one less day to ship out orders. Bookishly owner Louise Verity had these concerns, too. But when the pandemic upended how she ran her business—an online store selling gifts for book lovers—she became more open to the idea.”
Brevity Engineering: The New Zealand "interiors engineering firm specialising in seismic design and compliance" (formerly BVT Engineering) posted an explainer about their decision to trial a 4-day week, and a second piece asking "what does it mean for construction?"
Byrd Barr Place. The nonprofit joined our 2022 US trial, and writes about their plans on their Web site. "Byrd Barr Place takes pride in approaching our work innovatively," they explain, "from our organizing during the civil rights movement, to our groundbreaking studies, to now leading the social service sector in how we center those most important to us and our clients."
Expath. A Berlin-based company that "provides global mobility and language training services to some of Berlin’s largest and most successful start-ups and tech firms," Expath joined our 2022 trial, delayed for a couple months, then started in 2023. Founder Tia Hardy Robinson has several great posts on LinkedIn about their experience, starting in March 2023 with the planning process, a review two months in, and another post in the trial's final month.
Friendly Design Co.: They have a long post announcing the trial.
Hutch: The London mobile games company (which interestingly is on the same street as Scoro and Normally, two other 4-day week companies) trialed a 4-day week as part of our 2022 UK trial, and decided to make it permanent in early 2023. In "Implementing a 4 Day Week: The Hutch Big Guidance Doc!" they talk about what they did, what they measured, what to watch out for, and productivity hacks. The beautiful photographs of the Hutch office (which really is stunning) are worth a visit alone. Hutch also has a portal linking to other material they've published, including a number of first-hand accounts of how people are spending their new free time.
Literal Humans: The London-ish (though quite distributed) content marketing agency was part of our 2022 UK trial. In July 2022 content strategist Aditya Narayana wrote about why they were trialing a 4-day week; CEO Paul David wrote in December 2022 about how it worked out.
Made Music Studio: Lauren McGuire, president of Made Music Studio, wrote a piece that explained why the company is trialing a 4-day week. In a follow-up about "Mindfulness and the 4 Day Week," she talks about the importance of focus in making the 4-day week work; what made the post especially gratifying to me is that is builds on lessons from a mindfulness workshop led by SIY Global, another 4DWG trial company!
Mental Health Advocacy Services. A Los Angeles-based legal aid group, they were part of the 2022 US trial. Executive director Jenny Farrell wrote about the decision to join the trial here. They shared their results in this December 2022 update, including the results of a couple internal surveys. They found that "delivery of free legal advice and counsel did not experience any service interruptions, as evidenced by the fact that we closed slightly more cases per attorney during the trial than we had the prior year," in part because "we were able to recruit and retain more experienced attorneys who in turn were able to provide more extensive services to our clients." Jenny also spoke about the 4-day week in this online talk in 2023.
Montana Nonprofits Association. CEO Adam Jesperson writes about MNA's decision to try a 4-day week and the results. This 2023 article follows up on their experience a year later.
Orange You Glad: Another 4 Day Week Global alum published a Q&A about their experience (also posted as a series of Instagram Reels.)
Our Community. The Melbourne, Australia-based social enterprise (it’s not a nonprofit exactly, but very close to that world) was part of our 2022 trial. They talk about their decision to join the trial, their experience a year later, and also published a long report about their 4-day week. (This 2023 analysis by Per Capita, looking at the gender implications of the 4-day week, is also really worth reading.) This profile of founder Denis Moriarty is also good.