Everyone agrees: A shorter workweek is great!

Here’s one to leave on screen when your boss walks by: Having a shorter workweek leads to less stress and higher productivity.

Iceland, having already given Björk to the world, presented us with another gift by running two yearslong trials to determine the benefits of a reduced workweek. Unsurprisingly, most workers dig it, according to new research via CNN.

• We’re not talking a four-day week, as nice as that would be, but more like 35- to 36-hour weeks.
• The trials involved several thousand public sector workers.
• Between 2020 and 2022, 51% of Icelandic workers accepted reduced working hours with no reduction in pay. That rate is expected to be higher now.

And similar trials around the world have been just as successful.

Here’s the sweet stuff: 

• Iceland’s economy grew by 5% in 2023, the second-best among wealthy European countries, per the International Monetary Fund.
• Fifty-two percent of workers with reduced hours felt it improved their work-life balance, and 42% felt that it decreased stress outside of work.
• Six percent apparently said their stress had increased (probably the same people who said, “Teacher, you forgot to give us homework,” as kids).

Actually…

… increased stress is a potential downside of a shorter workweek because you have less time to get work done.

That’s one reason why employers are also on board with the concept, per Forbes: Since workers have less time to work but the same workload, they spend more of their work time working.

But do you really spend all 40 hours of your workweek doing work? And is losing downtime at the office worth it for a few more hours at home?

Don’t let your boss see that part — just smile and nod when they ask if you spend all of your work time doing work.