A new version of the four-day workweek is rapidly gaining global attention, in response to increasing demands for flexible work arrangements, rising burnout levels and a greater emphasis on the importance of work-life balance in post-pandemic workplaces. The ‘100:80:100 model’ – which offers employees 100% pay for 80% of their previous working hours, in exchange for a commitment to maintain 100% productivity – not only offers to reduce the number of days employees are required to work but also reduces their overall number of weekly work hours. This research uses a series of semi-structured interviews with key decision-makers (n = 15) from distinct firms (n = 15) throughout Australia who have already trialled this new workplace arrangement, to investigate their motivations for trialling it, and identify the key characteristics, benefits, challenges, performance measures, and potential for promoting a healthier work-life balance. Ten major themes were identified from the interview data, which illustrate that the 100:80:100 model is a form of work arrangement that, if management-led and employee-driven, can lead to improvements in work-life balance and support burnout reduction. Using a combination of border, boundary, and transformational leadership theories, our findings indicate successful adoption requires clear motivations for change, adequate planning and training, and established measures for evaluating both short-term and long-term success. Many examples of both work and non-work life benefits were captured; a 25% increase in hourly productivity was not required to maintain previous performance levels, the boundaries between work and non-work were clearly communicated across all different 100:80:100 schedules, and boundary permeability was found to be low. Academic studies into the 100:80:100 model are currently lacking, so these findings—based on the first-hand lived experiences of those who have experimented with this form of four-day week—make a valuable contribution to this emerging topic, providing important insights for both scholars, practitioners and policy makers. Working time reduction also has implications for the United Nations sustainable development goals, and the attainment of SDG3 (Good health and well-being), SDG5 (Gender equality), and SDG8 (Decent work and economic growth) targets.
Hopkins et al. (Wed,) studied this question.