For over six months now I have been working four days a week instead of the usual five. I originally made this change in schedule in order to spend more time with my young son. When I started, I was unsure how it would go, and how long I would be able to maintain it. After experiencing the four-day work week, I must say that I am very pleased with it and plan to continue it indefinitely. For those of you working the regular five days a week, imagine the last time you had a long weekend. Now imagine that every weekend is a long weekend. That is what a four-day work week is like.

The number one benefit of working four days a week is a better work-life balance - I have more time to spend with my family. It is easier to do the many household chores that need to be done plus have personal time to spend on my own activities, such as writing this article. When I worked five days a week, the standard two-day weekend sometimes felt rushed to me as I tried to get everything done that had been put off till the weekend. With three-day weekends (since I take Mondays off), there is always at least one day to unwind and relax. This leads into another major benefit of the four-day work week - less stress. Working only four days means one less day of work stresses, and one extra day to relax and unwind. This helps prevent burnout and keeps my motivation level at work higher during stressful times. Having more time for non-work activities also helps reduce the stress of trying to balance the many competing demands for my time. So the four-day work week reduces stress in both the professional and personal aspects of my life.

There is one significant drawback of the four-day work week that you are likely wondering about. What about the drop in pay? Working four instead of five days a week represents 20% less hours worked, which corresponds to a 20% drop in pay. It is quite possible to handle this kind of pay reduction, typically by reducing your discretionary spending. You may think it is not possible, but consider that assuming 3% annual raises, you would have made 20% less than your current income six years ago. Reducing your income will also reduce some of your corresponding expenses, such as taxes and travel costs for the one day a week you stay home. However, this kind of fiscal restraint is not for everyone, and I'm not saying you should do it. I didn't - I chose a different option: keep my full pay and make up the one day a week instead.

Yes, officially I still work five days a week. How do I make up the one day a week when I am not at work? Over one year, that is 52 days. I use a variety of ways to make up this time. I receive 11 statutory holidays and three weeks (15 days) of vacation that I use. I work slightly longer than the standard eight hour work day - putting in an extra 30 to 60 minutes of overtime each day. A simpler option would be to just work ten hours a day, which over four days adds up to the 40 hours needed per week, but that is too much for me. As I wrote in my article Overtime Considered Harmful, my productivity and motivation drop too much when I work that much overtime. I have noticed, however, that I can handle slightly higher levels of overtime working four days a week than I could working five days. Assuming on average an extra 40 minutes a day of overtime works out to about 17 extra days over a year. This gives a total of 11 + 15 + 17 = 43 days, leaving 9 days (52 - 43) to make up. One final option I take advantage of is to go on-call. When I am on-call, I earn 9 hours a week for holding the phone, even if it does not ring. Many people dislike being on-call, but in my current role I am able to respond to calls from home, without traveling to the office, and the phone rarely rings. So by going on call one week a month, I earn approximately 14 more days a year. This is five more days than I need, leaving one week of vacation.

Using the approach outlined above allows me to work four days a week and still pull in my full salary. But I do have to sacrifice most of my annual vacation and be on-call. This approach will not work for everyone. Not all workplaces offer flexible work schedules, and only certain types of jobs have an on-call role. But there are many other options to arrange a four-day work week. One option is to combine a pay cut with making up time. Taking a 10% pay cut will give you one day every two weeks, which leaves only 26 days to make up a year, which is possible just with statutory holidays and vacation. If you don't want to use up your vacation, you can work some five-day work weeks - doing this once a month with a 10% pay cut leaves just 4 days to make up after holidays. Working from home might also be an option worth considering. Even if your workplace does not officially support a flexible work schedule, try talking to your manager. Especially if you are a valued employee, they will be motivated to keep you happy.

Before switching to a four-day work week, you need to decide which day to take off. I believe it is best to consistently take the same day off each week to minimize confusion for your coworkers and boss. I personally like taking Mondays off, mainly because many statutory holidays fall on Mondays. If the majority of your work involves dealing with others and attending lots of meetings, then I suggest taking Fridays off - that seems to be a favorite day for people to take off, especially in the summer, and there seems to be less meetings scheduled on Fridays than any other day of the week. I have also heard people mention taking Wednesdays off, as that would split the work week in two, but then you lose the three-day weekend.

I heard recently that research by psychologists has shown that people working a four-day work week report on average higher levels of overall life satisfaction, particularly concerning their work-life balance. This matches my experience. I recommend you give it a try and find out how well the four-day work week works for you.

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