We’re beginning to get preliminary results of the 4 Day Week Global trial running in Ireland and the UK. Not surprisingly (to me), the news is positive.

Anna Cooban at CNN reports that for some workers, “the verdict is already in: it’s been ‘life changing’.”

More than two years into the pandemic, many have burned out, quit their jobs or are struggling to make ends meet as record inflation takes a huge bite out of their paychecks.

But, for the past eight weeks, thousands of people in the United Kingdom have tested a four-day schedule — with no cut to their pay — that could help usher in a new era of work.

It’s the world’s biggest trial of a four-day work week so far. Already, some workers have said they feel happier, healthier and are doing better in their jobs.

I can also say that we’re getting some early results back from the surveys that my colleague Juliet Schor has been conducting, and those look good too. I don’t want to say more until they’ve had time to crunch and report the numbers themselves, but the arrows are pointing in the right directions!

Having written an entire book about the impact the 4-day week has had on their businesses and lives, I’m not surprised by these results, but still it’s good to have both 1) confirmation from other researchers, and 2) a sense of the magnitude of the changes across a larger population.