In this era of back-to-basics and employee performance measurement, Iceland continues to go its own way, maintaining its four-day workweek policy for all. Let’s look at what such a policy has produced, five years after its implementation.
Last February, Iceland’s national statistics institute (Hagstofa Íslands) published its latest data on the state of the labor market. The takeaway: every indicator relating to hours worked is trending downward. From 2018 to 2026, the average number of hours worked by full-time employees dropped from 45 to 40, while the overall average — across all workers — fell from 40 to 35 hours.
These figures confirm the adoption and mainstreaming of the four-day week as an organizational practice, introduced primarily through union agreements since 2021.
The price of this reduction in working hours? A sustained, overall increase in the country’s GDP, which rose from $25.9 billion USD in 2018 to $43 billion in 2026. Over the past five years, Icelanders have also managed to grow their productivity by 1.5% per year (source: On Firmer Ground: Iceland’s Ongoing Experience of Shorter Working Weeks, October 2024). According to that report, this is the highest rate of progress among the Nordic countries.
Good for health
More importantly, Icelanders themselves report the benefits on their well-being: 97% of workers say that reducing their working week made it “easier” to achieve a work-life balance — and 52% feel that balance has actually improved. Four in ten workers (42%) report experiencing less stress in their personal lives.
These results are reflected in international indicators from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. According to the reports “The OSH Pulse: Occupational Safety and Health in the Workplace After the Pandemic“ — covering 2022 and 2025 — overall fatigue among Icelandic workers has fallen by three points, dropping from 48% to 45%. The stress indicator declined by 1 point (from 33 to 32), and the “headaches” indicator held steady at 32%.
These results may seem modest. However, it’s important to understand that they were achieved in a Europe where worker exhaustion has been steadily rising since 2020.
A pursuit of human progress
Beyond the statistics lies a deeper cultural reflection. As a civilization, do we want to remain on an endless work treadmill at all costs — or do we recognize that technological progress can go hand in hand with social progress? During a panel organized by the WEF in 2022, organizational psychologist Adam Grant, a leading researcher on the world of work, reminded us that how we structure work is not set in stone:
A century ago, Henry Ford — who was not exactly known for his enlightened views on management or human well-being — reduced the workweek from six days to five. He found that people were more productive, that morale improved, that loyalty increased and turnover declined; he said it was good for business. So why are we still stuck at five days? Is it a divine prescription handed down from above, or is it a human invention that deserves to be rethought?”
That question is for organizations to answer.
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