Fifteen Australian small and medium-sized businesses that adopted a four-day work week by cutting working time to 80 percent while keeping pay unchanged found none reported a drop in productivity.

IT outlet IT Media reported on Tuesday that the research interviewed leaders at 15 SMEs in Australia that tested a four-day week relatively early, examining the system’s effects and limits. The businesses spanned sectors including logistics, software development and publishing. The findings were included in a paper by researchers at Deakin University and Swinburne University of Technology, published in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.

The model the researchers focused on was the “100:80:100” approach. It pays 100 percent of wages, cuts working time to 80 percent and keeps productivity at 100 percent.

The key point was that cutting one working day did not immediately raise work intensity by 25 percent. Companies maintained existing productivity by reducing long meetings and fixing inefficient work procedures. In the survey, 43 percent said productivity improved, while 57 percent said it was almost unchanged. No company reported lower productivity.

Both management and employees played important roles in the process of embedding the system. The researchers said management must clearly present the purpose of introducing the system, while employees must also adjust how they work on their own. The term “100:80:100 model” in the paper’s title shows that the four-day week operates on these premises.

The background of Australia’s labour market was also presented as a factor behind the trial. Australia is seen as a country with relatively well-established working conditions, but the study noted that 61 percent of workers have experienced burnout as digitalisation has blurred the boundary between work and private life. In that situation, the four-day week was considered as an alternative to make the distinction between working days and days off clear again.

In practice, employees were less likely to take work into non-working hours, and their quality of life improved. That was why 14 of the 15 companies continued the model after the trial ended. The one company that stopped was a microbusiness with two employees, where the impact of COVID-19 coincided with the timing of a shift in company policy.

The results show the four-day week needs to be coupled with redesigning how work is done, rather than simply expanding benefits. It was notable that a similar pattern was confirmed across multiple sectors including logistics and publishing, not only knowledge-work industries such as software development. As a result, the discussion is likely to place more weight on how to reduce and change meetings, collaboration and work processes than on cutting working hours itself.