SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Icelandic football fans react while watching their national football team play during the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualification football match against Kosovo in Reykjavik, Iceland on October 9, 2017.
(Photo: Halldor Kolbeins/AFP via Getty Images)
How's Iceland's 4-Day Work Week Working? 'Incredibly Well,' Study Says
"The Iceland story offers a very different vision to countries across Europe that are grappling with low productivity but trying the same old failed methods," said one researcher.
Oct 25, 2024
Iceland's economy grew more than all but one other rich European nation and its workers reported higher well-being, lower stress, and better work-life balance after the country reduced its standard work week from 40 to 36 hours, research published Friday affirmed.
The study—released by a pair of think tanks, London-based Autonomy Institute and Alda (Association for Sustainability and Democracy) of Reykjavík, Iceland—"offers new insight into the program of working-time reduction that has taken place in Iceland, following successful public sector trials in the country."
"After successful pilot schemes in the Icelandic national government and Reykjavík City Council between 2015 and 2019 which found improvements to employee well-being as well as productivity, historic labor agreements between Icelandic trade unions and employers 'embedded' the right to shorter hours for hundreds of thousands of workers," study authors Guðmundur Haraldsson, Jack Kellam, and Rowan Trickett noted.
The new report analyzed the results of studies conducted by the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Iceland, the Icelandic Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration "to understand job patterns,
work environment, and the reasons why individuals left paid employment" in 2021 and 2022.
Key findings include:
- 62% of people working reduced hours reported being more satisfied with their schedule;
- 97% of workers thought that shorter working hours had made it easier to balance work with their private life, or at least kept the balance the same as before (with more than half, 52%, thinking it had improved); and
- 42% of those who had moved to shorter hours thought that it had decreased stress in their private life, vs. 6% who felt it had increased.
"This study shows a real success story: Shorter working hours have become widespread in Iceland... and the economy is strong across a number of indicators," Haraldsson said in a statement.
Indeed, as CNN reported Friday:
In 2023, Iceland's economy expanded by 5%, a growth rate second only to that of Malta among rich European economies, according to the International Monetary Fund's latest World Economic Outlook, published earlier this week. That is much higher than the country's average growth rate of almost 2% in the decade between 2006 and 2015.
"Overall, the Icelandic economy has remained strong post the introduction of a widespread shorter working week," Autonomy Institute research director Will Stronge said in a statement. "The evidence we've collected suggests that when workers have a better work-life balance and are better rested—the economy benefits too."
"The Iceland story offers a very different vision to countries across Europe that are grappling with low productivity but trying the same old failed methods," he added.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Iceland's economy grew more than all but one other rich European nation and its workers reported higher well-being, lower stress, and better work-life balance after the country reduced its standard work week from 40 to 36 hours, research published Friday affirmed.
The study—released by a pair of think tanks, London-based Autonomy Institute and Alda (Association for Sustainability and Democracy) of Reykjavík, Iceland—"offers new insight into the program of working-time reduction that has taken place in Iceland, following successful public sector trials in the country."
"After successful pilot schemes in the Icelandic national government and Reykjavík City Council between 2015 and 2019 which found improvements to employee well-being as well as productivity, historic labor agreements between Icelandic trade unions and employers 'embedded' the right to shorter hours for hundreds of thousands of workers," study authors Guðmundur Haraldsson, Jack Kellam, and Rowan Trickett noted.
The new report analyzed the results of studies conducted by the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Iceland, the Icelandic Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration "to understand job patterns,
work environment, and the reasons why individuals left paid employment" in 2021 and 2022.
Key findings include:
- 62% of people working reduced hours reported being more satisfied with their schedule;
- 97% of workers thought that shorter working hours had made it easier to balance work with their private life, or at least kept the balance the same as before (with more than half, 52%, thinking it had improved); and
- 42% of those who had moved to shorter hours thought that it had decreased stress in their private life, vs. 6% who felt it had increased.
"This study shows a real success story: Shorter working hours have become widespread in Iceland... and the economy is strong across a number of indicators," Haraldsson said in a statement.
Indeed, as CNN reported Friday:
In 2023, Iceland's economy expanded by 5%, a growth rate second only to that of Malta among rich European economies, according to the International Monetary Fund's latest World Economic Outlook, published earlier this week. That is much higher than the country's average growth rate of almost 2% in the decade between 2006 and 2015.
"Overall, the Icelandic economy has remained strong post the introduction of a widespread shorter working week," Autonomy Institute research director Will Stronge said in a statement. "The evidence we've collected suggests that when workers have a better work-life balance and are better rested—the economy benefits too."
"The Iceland story offers a very different vision to countries across Europe that are grappling with low productivity but trying the same old failed methods," he added.
Iceland's economy grew more than all but one other rich European nation and its workers reported higher well-being, lower stress, and better work-life balance after the country reduced its standard work week from 40 to 36 hours, research published Friday affirmed.
The study—released by a pair of think tanks, London-based Autonomy Institute and Alda (Association for Sustainability and Democracy) of Reykjavík, Iceland—"offers new insight into the program of working-time reduction that has taken place in Iceland, following successful public sector trials in the country."
"After successful pilot schemes in the Icelandic national government and Reykjavík City Council between 2015 and 2019 which found improvements to employee well-being as well as productivity, historic labor agreements between Icelandic trade unions and employers 'embedded' the right to shorter hours for hundreds of thousands of workers," study authors Guðmundur Haraldsson, Jack Kellam, and Rowan Trickett noted.
The new report analyzed the results of studies conducted by the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Iceland, the Icelandic Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration "to understand job patterns,
work environment, and the reasons why individuals left paid employment" in 2021 and 2022.
Key findings include:
- 62% of people working reduced hours reported being more satisfied with their schedule;
- 97% of workers thought that shorter working hours had made it easier to balance work with their private life, or at least kept the balance the same as before (with more than half, 52%, thinking it had improved); and
- 42% of those who had moved to shorter hours thought that it had decreased stress in their private life, vs. 6% who felt it had increased.
"This study shows a real success story: Shorter working hours have become widespread in Iceland... and the economy is strong across a number of indicators," Haraldsson said in a statement.
Indeed, as CNN reported Friday:
In 2023, Iceland's economy expanded by 5%, a growth rate second only to that of Malta among rich European economies, according to the International Monetary Fund's latest World Economic Outlook, published earlier this week. That is much higher than the country's average growth rate of almost 2% in the decade between 2006 and 2015.
"Overall, the Icelandic economy has remained strong post the introduction of a widespread shorter working week," Autonomy Institute research director Will Stronge said in a statement. "The evidence we've collected suggests that when workers have a better work-life balance and are better rested—the economy benefits too."
"The Iceland story offers a very different vision to countries across Europe that are grappling with low productivity but trying the same old failed methods," he added.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.