Another Future is Possible
Overwork feels inevitable and inescapable in today’s world. Tech CEOs boast about how little they sleep. Long hours are a rite of passage, exhaustion a badge of honor.
But we all know it’s unsustainable: it’s bad for people, bad for companies, and ultimately counterproductive.
The good news is, it doesn’t have to be this way. Companies can be more productive, more sustainable, and happier places; attract and retain great workers; encourage better collaboration and creativity between workers; and remove the structural obstacles that make it harder for women to rise in their workplaces and professions.
How? By shortening the workweek.
Companies around the world, in a variety of industries, have redesigned their workdays, allowing them to work less while doing more, and giving back time to workers. Maybe it’s time for you to join that movement, too.
We Can Help You Get There
Through keynotes, in-person workshops and virtual events, and our soon-to-be-launched course on designing the 4-day week, Strategy and Rest helps people discover the power of rest, and helps companies redesign their time.
Our work draws on the research of founder Alex Soojung-Kim Pang and his trilogy of books on time, technology and work: THE DISTRACTION ADDICTION, on the neuroscience of attention, technology, and work; REST: WHY YOU GET MORE DONE WHEN YOU WORK LESS, on the secret role of rest in the lives of history’s most creative people; and SHORTER: WORK BETTER, SMARTER AND LESS– HERE’S HOW, on how companies can put the lessons REST into practice.
After two decades working with global corporations and governments we’ve developed tools that make these insights actionable and available to everyone.
Want to learn more, and find out how you can redesign your workdays to be more productive, balanced, and sustainable? Contact us.
Books
Strategy and Rest’s unique perspective and offerings are built on founder Alex Soojung-Kim Pang’s books. Click on a book below to learn more about each one.
Companies
Read about the companies shortening working hours and changing the future of work. See all posts.
Spanish telco Telefonica will trial 4-day week in fall 2021
On the heels of the Valencia proposal to trial a 4-day week, Spanish phone company Telefonica now says it will trial a 4-day week from October to December, according to Reuters: Telefonica will offer part
“If you want to move to a 32h week and still be successful, you’ll have to master one thing first:” Wildbit’s 4-day week
Wildbit is a Philadelphia-based software firm that implemented that a 4-day week in 2017; it's one of the companies I talk about in SHORTER, after I spent some time interviewing co-founder and CEO Natalie Nagele.
Unilever NZ’s 1-year trial of a 4-day week
Unilever is one of the world’s biggest consumer package goods companies, with brands like Lipton’s Tea and Dove soap and revenues in the tens of billions of dollars. Today news dropped that their (relatively small)
Danish law firms are experimenting with shorter weeks and flexible hours
If you're familiar at all with legal practice, you know that billable hours are the great driver of professional life. Lawyers measure their billable time in increments as short as six minutes, and racking up
News
Recent developments in the world of 4-day weeks, the science of rest, and the future of business. See all top posts.
Talking about the 4-day week on KQED Forum
I was on KQED's Forum today, talking about the 4-day week. There was quite the all-star lineup: Charlotte Lockhart, Leena Yousefi (whose law firm YLaw is trialing a 4-day week right now), and Wharton professor
Articles and interviews on 4-day weeks, the pandemic, and reopening
I've been doing a lot of writing and speaking about how the 4-day week can play a role in helping companies reopen safely and more quickly, and give them the resilience and organizational creativity necessary
How to put insights from REST and SHORTER into practice if you’re not a CEO
During the lively Q&A at this Friday's (virtual, sigh) talk about the 4-day week and future of work to the Design Business Association, Anna Cox, a professor at University College London who studies digital technologies,
Building your home studio: How to connect, sound, and look better— without spending a fortune
This week I spoke with my friend Christine Armstrong about how to improve your Zoom game, and how even simple changes can greatly improve your look and experience online. They did a great job of
Media Appearances
Recent podcast, radio and TV appearances. See all media.
Talking about the 4-day week on KQED Forum
I was on KQED's Forum today, talking about the 4-day week. There was quite the all-star lineup: Charlotte Lockhart, Leena Yousefi (whose law firm YLaw is trialing a 4-day week right now), and Wharton professor
Talking to Harvard Business Review Korea
For some reason I never posted this when the video first appeared, but a few weeks ago I gave a talk (remote, alas) sponsored by the Korean edition of the Harvard Business Review. Perhaps in
KCRA and the future of the office
I was on KCRA’s “Press Play” yesterday, talking with Madeleine Brand about the 40-hour week, remote work during COVID, and the future of work. This write-up by Amy Ta is pretty comprehensive. There was one
Job Sharing and Beyond podcast
I’m on the latest episode of the podcast Job Sharing and Beyond, talking with Karin Tischler, the founder of Emily’s Path Consulting, about Shorter, flexible work, COVID-19, and the future of work. You can listen
Recent Writing
Latest articles and op-eds. See all writing.
Talking about routines in the Financial Times
The Financial Times recently launched a new series on "Rebooting the Workplace," which consists of essays by various invited experts on different aspects of the future of work in a post-COVID (or still-ongoing-COVID) era. As
My Fast Company article on the pandemic and 4-day week
I've got a new piece in Fast Company about how companies are moving from lockdown to 4-day weeks: Many businesses that moved to remote work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were surprised to find
The Atlantic: Making the case for reopening with a 4-day week
In today's Atlantic I have an essay arguing for reopening businesses on a 4-day week. The argument has two parts. First, offices have proved to be a significant vector for COVID-19, and more generally, today's
My piece in the Guardian: “It’s time to end 9-5 office hours”
The Guardian (which has been really diligent about beating the drum for the 4-day week) ran an excerpt from SHORTER. They've written about my work in the past, so it's nice to continue that relationship here!