Tech CEO: 4-day work week didn't hurt or help productivity
- Reference: 1744286234
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/04/10/4_day_week_productivity/
- Source link:
While Microsoft and Dell would prefer to keep quiet about work-life balance programs embarked upon during 2019 and 2022 respectively, others in the tech industry – albeit of a different scale – are embracing change.
"We piloted the four-day week in 2020 and after a successful pilot, which included gathering feedback from our staff, we decided to implement it in January 2021, so we're now four years on from adopting full time," he tells The Register .
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"During our original pilot we saw no decline in productivity (I wouldn't say we had any gain). However, the feedback was super positive and staff liked the extra day off and felt they had a much better work-life balance.
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"Every employee is on a four-day week and most employees opted for Fridays off, which gives them a three-day weekend and I know many employees have said it allows them an opportunity on a Friday to catch-up on personal tasks/admin, allowing them more freedom on Saturday/Sunday."
Brit consultancy 4 Day Week Foundation last month launched a campaign to get more local [4]tech businesses to adopt new working styles . It is starting trials for the latest batch of entrants from the end of June.
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Is this out of sync with an industry better known for pushing people hard to work long hours? Google co-founder Sergey Brin recently said he wanted AI engineers in the office at least five days a week, [6]working 60-plus hour weeks .
"It's also been great for us to attract new talent and has helped us retain talent. We didn't need a restructure at all, but in certain roles we need coverage on Fridays and often weekends too (e.g. customer support), so we have to flex time and ensure we have enough rotation to ensure we have enough coverage," says Boost.
Everyone at Civo does their full week's hours during the four days. While it may be good for the staff, is it a headache for management?
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"The four-day week does present some challenges across certain departments, e.g. sales and customer support where we need coverage beyond four days, but we've been able to work around this by hiring extra people to improve our coverage."
[8]91% of polled Amazon staff unhappy with return-to-office, 3-in-4 want to jump ship
[9]Results are in for biggest 4-day work week trial ever: 92% sticking with it
[10]Next six months could set a new pace for work-life balance
[11]Most Londoners would quit before they give up working from home
Despite its reluctance to talk to The Reg about why it hasn't expanded its own initiative, Microsoft said in 2019 that its trial of a four-day week in Japan made for happier staff, more efficient meetings, and a 40 percent increased productivity rate.
"Work a short time, rest well, and learn a lot," [12]Microsoft Japan president and CEO Takuya Hirano said at the time. "I want employees to think about and experience how they can achieve the same results with 20 percent less working time."
The added bonus was also lower operating costs in terms of electricity and printed pages. In these times of Microsoft spending big on AI datacenters, eking out efficiencies make more sense. We previously asked Microsoft why it hasn't rolled out the scheme to more offices across the world.
A spokesperson told us they'd look into our inquiry and "let you know if we have anything to add." Since then? Crickets.
Dell is the same. Staff seemingly loved the four-day week but it didn't expand beyond [13]tests in the Netherlands and Argentina . Dell didn't respond to requests for comment.
Maybe it's investor anxiety. Or maybe tech's billionaire class still prefers the go-hard-or-go-home ethos. ®
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[4] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/25/fourdayworkweek_pilot_due_in_tech/
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[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/24/2_in_5_techies_quit/
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[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/25/amazon_staff_return_office/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/21/4_day_work_week/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/07/4day_work_week/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/15/wfh_pulled_quit_survey/
[12] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/04/microsoft-japan-four-day-work-week-productivity
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/11/4day_workweek/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Some people like to watch the staff be miserable more than they want to see a sustainable success
Most articles I have read in serious publications and my experience as a contractor, with my productivity and that of colleagues is, flexible, remote working and reduced hours work better for everyone. JP Morgan, Citi Bank, as well as Microsoft and Dell all seemd to back track after the pandemic and either spouted lies to support it or just said because we say. So I suspect the author guessing at motives like investor anxiety or exec mindset and I would add sunk cost fallacy re property portfolios is probably closer to the truth than any argument against it the tech bros or bank CEOs might throw around.
Re: Some people like to watch the staff...
I think flexible is more important than x days per week, as everyone has gotten used to scheduling their week to get work coordinated and done when needed. Makes folks sensitive to BS deadlines sometimes and staying responsive can be a challenge if you don't stay in communication even when you aren't "on"
I directly work with a Brazilian, a Dutch, 3 Spanish and a Londoner. Indirectly I work with a similar mix. I'm officially supposed to be in the office 3 days a week. In Manchester. No one I work with in either my immediate, or extended team work in Manchester. I managed to escape. Some of my colleagues were less lucky.
Define "productivity"
From TFA, quoting the CEO of Civo: "we saw no decline in productivity (I wouldn't say we had any gain)" .
What's "productivity"? Is it hourly or is it weekly? The Fine Article gives conflicting ideas at best.
Quoting the boss of MSFT Japan (as of 2019), "I want employees to think about and experience how they can achieve the same results with 20 percent less working time" , makes the impression that he wants his employees invent ways to become 20 per cent more efficient on an hourly basis to preserve the weekly productivity. As the article notes MSFT didn't expand the pilot and are not saying why - maybe the tradeoff didn't work out?
At the same time, "Everyone at Civo does their full week's hours during the four days." Hmm... This looks like no change in hourly or, indeed, weekly productivity. It's just that you cram your work week into, say, four 10-hour days rather than five 8-hour ones, and presumably you compensate for the degraded rest and family/social life for 4 days/week over the 3-day weekend. I don't know what was expected, but I can't say I am all that surprised. How happy this makes one's spouse/partner/children/elderly parents and how legal it is in one's jurisdiction may vary.
I think I speak for us all when I say:
Fuck Sergey Brin.