What is a four-day workweek? It’s not a trick question. Is it four 10-hour days or four eight-hour days? If it’s the former, you risk employee burnout. If it’s the latter, you’re betting employees can work smarter by doing the same work in 80% of the time.

Four-day workweeks of either kind are being floated as part of the answer to recruiting employees in a still resilient (read: tight) labor market.

Let’s take a look at what that would mean for employers.

Four eight-hour days

You’re not going out on as long a limb as you think. Thirty-three employers in the U.S., Ireland, and a few other countries signed on to a pilot project last year by 4 Day Week Global Foundation, and the results are encouraging.

You’re not too small to think about this workweek configuration. According to the survey, 52% of the participants had 10 or fewer employees. This workweek arrangement also paid off for some participants:

• The resignation rate per 100 employees decreased to 1.70, from 1.76
• The new hire rate per 100 employees increased to 2.09, from 2.06
• Employees’ absenteeism rate per 100 employees decreased to 0.39, from 0.56.

And yes, Friday was the most popular day off.

The majority of employers—67%—said they would continue with the arrangement after the pilot program ended.

This arrangement was also good for participants’ bottom lines. The pilot program compared companies’ revenue at the beginning and end of the program. Result: Revenue rose 8.14%, weighted by company size.

But you can’t...

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