2. It doesn’t have financial costs.

By Jessica Stillman |

The idea of the four-day workweek is having a bit of a moment. A trial of reduced hours in Iceland just returned promising results, Kickstarter is giving a reduced workweek a try, and thanks to the pandemic-related shake-up of business practices, it seems that job listings touting shorter hours are (modestly) on the rise.

All of which should make Charlotte Lockhart and Andrew Barnes happy. As the former marketing director and CEO of New Zealand firm Perpetual Guardian, the pair were pioneers of the four-day workweek concept back in 2018 when they ran a successful trial that showed cutting hours at their business led to a 20% spike in productivity.

They’ve since teamed up to form “4 Day Week Global,” a campaign to try to convince other firms to give a four-day workweek a try.

But while Lockhart and Barnes are no doubt excited about the growing momentum behind the idea, they told Insider recently that they’re concerned the hype is getting out in front of reality. While reduced working hours have many benefits, trimming workweeks isn’t without costs and tradeoffs.

And while they may be enthusiastic evangelists of four-day workweeks, they want to explode a handful of myths that can trip up bosses making the switch to shorter hours.

1. It’s just another name for a 3-day weekend.

The term four-hour workweek has instant appeal because it conjures images of three-day weekends, and who wouldn’t like a longer break each week? But as charming and clickable as the term “fourday workweek” might be, Lockhart insists it’s actually a bit of a misnomer. The policy is essentially about reducing the workweek significantly, not about any particular way to do that.

“Not every business can close their door on a Friday, it’s just not practical. We didn’t want customer service to go down, so we told staff that they needed to find a time that was appropriate to work for them,” Lockhart said.

Some companies may shutter for a whole day. Others may offer staff flexibility to schedule their allotted hours however they want. Wharton professor Adam Grant has even advocated for using reduced hours to close offices at 3 p.m.

Reporters, like everyone else, sometimes get carried away. They love a feel-good story, know good news garners clicks, and generally like to keep things as simple as possible. All of which means that sometimes the news about yet another successful four-day workweek trial skews toward the benefits without being as upfront as it should about the costs.

Because there often are costs. The recent Icelandic experiment added around $30 million to the government’s budget, Lockhart said. When one Swedish city ran a similar trial with care workers, staff costs rose 22% while employees were happier and more effective.

That being said, not every organization that tries reducing hours ends up losing money due to the shift. For example, when one Australian digital marketing agency gave its employees Wednesdays off, profits tripled. The ratio of costs and benefits depends on the specific business, but don’t assume cutting your workweek will automatically pay for itself.