With AI, 4-day work weeks could soon become the norm.

Interest in the 4-day work week has been growing for some time now. Employees are looking for more flexibility, and work/life balance. At the same time, business leaders are discovering that 4-day weeks actually improve productivity, engagement, and talent acquisition strategies.

However, despite numerous successful trials, companies still struggle to update their work schedules. AI could be the solution. Promising organizations effective ways to improve productivity and efficiency, AI is helping teams accomplish more with less.

Many AI innovators, like Zoom’s Eric’s Yuan, believe artificial intelligence will be the key to making the 4-day work week achievable for every company. He’s not alone either, various other analysts and leaders have suggested that with AI, the standard 40-hour work week will become a thing of the past.

The Rise of the Four-Day Work Week

The 4-day work week has seen a significant surge in popularity over the last few years. We even introduced this model at Today Digital, and have seen incredible results so far. Back in 2022, the rising demand for flexible work and work-life balance actually encouraged countless UK-based companies to trial four-day weeks themselves.

The pilot program’s results spoke for themselves, highlighting a 92% success rate, improved job retention rates, and enhanced physical and mental health among employees.

Throughout the world, many organizations have discovered the benefits of a shorter working week, and employees have become increasingly receptive to the idea too. One study found that 75% of employees would actually rather work for four ten-hour days, than five eight-hour days.

Studies released by companies already employing the new schedule have overwhelmingly shown positive results, from improved productivity to reduced operational costs and lower employee stress levels. Now, demand for a 4-day work week is increasing again, thanks to a few key factors:

Growing Resistance to Traditional Workplace Routines

Shortly after the pandemic, flexibility in the workplace was all the rage. But lately, many companies have been reverting back to old-fashioned work schedules, encouraging staff to return to the office full-time. This shift has been met with significant resistance.

In one study into firms mandating returns, 42% of the organizations experienced higher levels of attrition, and 29% said they were struggling to recruit new staff. Embracing AI and the 4-day work week could give companies an alternative way to offer schedules that improve work-life balance, when flexible and hybrid work options aren’t appropriate.

New Findings: Fridays Are Unproductive

It’s easy to assume that having employees in the office more frequently would lead to higher results. However, the reality is that human beings only have so much energy, and focus to dedicate to their work. In the last couple of years, it’s become evident that a lot of staff members generally work less efficiently and productively on Fridays.

In fact, one report found that Friday afternoon is when employee productivity reaches its lowest point. Shifting to a 4-day work week could mean that business leaders can make the most of their employee’s skills on the days they’re more likely to be productive.

Positive Results from 4-Day Work Week Trials

As mentioned above, although many companies have yet to implement four-day work weeks consistently, many have engaged in trials. The world’s largest four-day trial resulted in most of the participants choosing to make the policy permanent.

Businesses have discovered that reducing the length of the working week actually improves productivity, performance, and engagement. It even helps to enhance company culture, promoting positive employee wellbeing and reducing burnout and stress.

AI and the 4-Day Work Week: How AI Helps

Thanks to the rise of AI, the 4-day work week almost seems like an inevitability. Not only are leaders like Zoom’s Eric Yuan drawing attention to how AI can help to streamline work schedules, but countless other organizations are drawing attention to the impact of AI on work routines.

One report discovered that 29% of companies with 4-day work weeks are already using AI extensively. Additionally, among the companies leveraging AI to improve employee productivity and efficiency, 93% say they’re considering implementing shorter working weeks.

Some AI-driven companies have already shared their results with the world. Earthly, a climate tech company, shared that it believes the evolution of generative AI solutions has made its four-day work week more efficient than ever. The company had implemented its new shorter working week a year before adopting AI, and says the transformation has been phenomenal.

Analysts also believe AI and the 4-day work week will go hand-in-hand in the years ahead. One report from Autonomy found that AI could reduce the hours employees need to work in the UK by 10% for around 88% of companies.

How will AI Enable the 4 Day Work Week

Ultimately, AI enables the 4-day work week by empowering teams to accomplish more in less time. It reduces the number of repetitive tasks staff members need to complete daily, freeing them up to focus on more valuable processes, and eliminating inefficiencies.

With cutting-edge AI technologies, companies can streamline the path to the 4-day work week by:

Handing Repetitive Work Over to the Bots

Probably the most significant way AI powers the 4-day work week, is by reducing the amount of work human employees actually need to do. AI is excellent at eliminating the need for team members to work on time-consuming tasks, like transcribing calls or entering data into a system.

Research from McKinsey even found that with generative AI, automation could reduce the hours people work each day by around 30%. The right AI tools can handle everything from scheduling to customer support, approvals, and various mundane administrative tasks.

With fewer repetitive tasks to complete, employees can spend more of their time on valuable processes. This means they can work fewer hours, and the hours they contribute to their company will lead to better results from strategic, creative tasks.

Using AI as an Efficiency Guide

Aside from simply “taking over” repetitive tasks, AI can act as a guide to augment the performance of employees in the tasks they actually need to do. Solutions like Microsoft Copilot can offer real-time insights that make employees more productive. They can rapidly surface the information employees need to complete projects, reducing the time they spend searching for insights.

These tools can guide employees through decision-making processes, coach them with best-practice advice, and even help them complete complex tasks faster. One report by Microsoft found that 85% of people using AI believes it helps them to stay focused on their most important work.

AI can even help to reduce inaccuracies and errors in work. For instance, people who know they have issues with attention to detail can use AI to double-check work and catch errors, reducing the risk of mistakes that need to be fixed in the future.

Using AI for 4-Day Work Week Scheduling

Another way AI enables the 4-day work week, is by helping business leaders and employees optimize their schedules on a consistent basis. Tools like Microsoft Places already use AI to help team members decide when to visit the office, and which rooms to book based on their needs.

Similarly, AI-powered scheduling and workplace management tools can help business leaders to track how spaces are used throughout the week. This can help them to adjust resource allocation strategies based on a new four-day schedule with exceptional speed.

AI tools can even help business leaders to track engagement and productivity among their workers on different days, so they can monitor the impact of different work schedules on employees. This could lead to the creation of more personalized approach to flexible work scheduling.

AI to Improve Asynchronous Collaboration

On average, employees spend around 3 hours each week in meetings, and 30% of workers say that the time spent in meetings exceeds five hours per week. While AI doesn’t eliminate the need for meetings, it can reduce the number of meetings staff members need to physically attend.

Companies like Zoom are already experimenting with AI digital twins that can be used to create video Clips for training, knowledge sharing, and distributing messages among teams. These twins will allow businesses to unlock new levels of productivity with asynchronous collaboration.

Rather than having to invest time into planning meetings with distributed staff members, employees will be able to create quick, AI-powered video clips they can share with teams around the world.

Creating More Skilled Workers

AI also offers an opportunity to rapidly upskill workers, giving them more of the capabilities they need to complete tasks faster and more effectively. With AI-powered coaching systems and learning tools, companies can give every employee access to an intelligent tutor, that can personalize their educational experiences to their needs.

These AI tools can even learn from the employees they support, constantly delivering tailored recommendations on which skills to optimize and improve. This not only accelerates the speed with which employees can complete tasks, but can improve thew quality of work produced.

It also means that employees need to spend less time on courses and educational programs during office hours, because they can learn and improve consistently “on the job”.

What Will the AI 4-Day Work Week Look Like?

Clearly, there are plenty of ways that AI can enable the 4-day work week. However, there are some limitations. For instance, AI can’t automate every process for every employee. Artificial intelligence will undoubtedly reduce working hours more for employees that already work in environments where a lot of processes can be automated.

However, the ability of AI to improve efficiency, productivity, creativity, and performance at scale should be felt by every employee, in every industry. Autonomy’s report suggests that AI will deliver one of two outcomes. It could introduce such significant productivity gains to companies that the number of hours employees need to work to complete tasks will drop by around 20%.

Alternatively, it could improve employee performance to the extent that they accomplish significantly more in the hours they work.

The question is what AI’s ability to reduce the working week will really mean for future working schedules. Companies could decide to use the productivity gains offered by AI to reduce working hours for employees. This could mean that businesses introduce a four-day working week but cut the standard 40-hour week down to a full-time average of 32 hours.

This obviously raises some concerns for employees who are concerned about losing wages in a difficult economic environment. However, some studies have shown that workers are willing to accept pay cuts to work fewer hours each week.

On the other hand, business leaders might decide to retain the 40-hour work week, but spread it over four days, using AI to make 10-hour days less daunting and complex for team members.

The Future Impact of AI on the Workplace

Although it remains to be seen whether AI will inspire more companies to embrace the 4-day work week, it’s clear that this technology will continue to have an impact on the workplace. The biggest worry for most employees will be that AI’s ability to improve workplace efficiency and productivity won’t lead to better working schedules – but fewer jobs.

Already, countless employees have raised concerns that AI might make them obsolete. Now that companies have even more ways to use AI to complete human tasks, concerns about job displacement are growing faster than ever.

However, the hope worldwide is that the growing impact of AI on the workplace won’t lead to significant job displacement. Instead, it will hopefully create an environment where companies can augment their human workforce with the latest technology and accomplish more with less.

With a bit of luck, this will mean that not only do four-day work weeks become more ubiquitous, but employees will face less stress, strain, and burnout in their roles.

 



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