Iceland's Four-Day Working Week Trials an 'Overwhelming Success', Report Finds

upstart writes:

Iceland's four-day working week trials an 'overwhelming success', report finds - ABC News:

Trials of a four-day working week in Iceland have been lauded an "overwhelming success", with research revealing the initiative helped increase productivity, and led to an overall improvement in workers' wellbeing.

The trials, run by Reykjavik City Council and the Icelandic government, were held between 2015 and 2019, and ultimately included more than 2,500 workers - or about one per cent of Iceland's working population.

As part of the project, employees from a range of professions - including offices, kindergartens, social service providers and hospitals - moved from a 40-hour working week, to a 35- or 36-hour working week, but received the same pay.

Research into the trials, published this month by researchers from the UK think tank Autonomy and Iceland's Association for Sustainable Democracy (Alda), noted that following the trials' success, trade unions "achieved permanent reductions in working hours for tens of thousands of their members across the country".

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