A four-day work weekfor a team that can't close on Fridays.
A four-day work week gives people a day off every week, usually without cutting pay. Trials in the UK, Iceland and the US have made it a common topic, and some companies have adopted it for good. For many teams the simple version, everyone off on Friday, doesn't work: customers write in on Fridays, and production doesn't stop.
Here are the common four-day week models, how to stagger the day off so someone is always in, and a template that shows it on a calendar.
The four-day week models
100-80-100. 100% of the pay for 80% of the time, with the promise of 100% of the output. The model behind most well-known trials. People work four normal days.
Compressed hours. The same 40 hours in four 10-hour days. Same total time, one more day off. Common in shift work, less popular with knowledge workers.
Summer Fridays. A four-day week only in summer, often from Memorial Day to Labor Day. A low-risk way to try it.
Stagger the day off
If the team has to be reachable five days a week, split it: half the team takes Friday off, half takes Monday, and they swap every week or every month. Everyone gets a three-day weekend, and every weekday has people in.
For support and on-call teams, check coverage per day, not per week. Two people out on the same Friday might leave nobody who can handle billing questions.
Keep meetings to four days
A four-day week fails when the fifth day fills up with meetings that couldn't fit. Cut recurring meetings, keep them on the days everyone is in, and move status updates to writing.
Measure it
Agree on a few measures before you start: output (tickets closed, features shipped, response times), and how people feel. Run it for at least three months before you decide. The well-known trials ran for six.
Make the fifth day stick
Make the day off real
No Slack, no “quick question”. If it's urgent, it goes to whoever is in.
Put it on the calendar
Everyone's day off on the team calendar, so nobody books a meeting on it.
Handle holiday weeks
A week with a holiday is already a four-day week. Decide in advance what happens.
Check coverage by area
Make sure every day has someone who can handle each area that matters.
Start with summer
Summer Fridays are an easy way to test it before going all year.
Write down the deal
Pay, hours, expectations and how the day off works, on one page.
A four-day week only worksif every day still has people in.
Staggered days off are easy to agree and easy to lose track of. A team calendar with everyone's day off, next to holidays and vacations, keeps it working. Here's a support team on a Forgot board. It's live, so try moving a day off.
Every day covered
See at a glance which days are short, before a customer notices.
Holidays included
Public holidays for each person's country, so a Monday holiday doesn't double up.
Vacations on top
Vacations and the four-day-week day off on the same rows.
- Half the team is off Monday, half Friday
- They swap every week
- MLK Day lands on a Monday group's day
- Drag a day off to another day
Run a four-day week without leaving a day empty.
Forgot puts everyone's days off, vacations and public holidays on one timeline, so you can see that every day has people in.
- Everyone's time off on one timeline
- See who covers what, and when nobody does
- Public holidays for each person's country
- Your team sends dates without signing up
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Questions
How does a four-day work week work?
Most often as 100-80-100: full pay for four normal days, with the same output expected. Some companies compress 40 hours into four 10-hour days instead.
Which companies have a four-day work week?
A growing number of small and mid-sized companies, many after trials in the UK, Iceland and the US. Policies differ a lot, from year-round to summer only.
How do you run a four-day week if customers need you five days?
Stagger the day off: half the team takes Friday, half takes Monday, swapping regularly, so every weekday has people in.
What happens in a week with a public holiday?
Decide in advance. Common answers: the holiday is that week's day off, or the people whose day off falls on the holiday move it to another day.