The largest pilot of a 4 day work week (35-36hrs) took place in Iceland with 2.5k people taking part in the study.
Iceland is one of the countries most in support of the 4 day work week. Between 2015 and 2019, Iceland led one of the largest 4 day work week pilots. The trial involved about 2,500 participants with no reduction in pay.
The trial was considered a huge success and has resulted in a huge shift in Iceland’s standard working hours, with 90% of the population currently enjoying reduced hours or other work modifications.
Organized by Reykjavik City & Icelandic Government
0% productivity loss - services maintained, many workplaces saw productivity gains
Landmark government-run trials 2015-2019. Reykjavik City Council and national government tested 35-36 hour weeks with 2,500+ workers across 100+ workplaces. Productivity maintained or improved. Described as an "overwhelming success." Led to 86% of Iceland's workforce gaining right to shorter hours through union negotiations.
Autonomy Research - Iceland's Shorter Working Week (opens in new tab)Although the average work week hours in Iceland has traditionally been 40 hours, the Icelandic government recently changed the work week to around 35 hours. Standard office hours vary by the season. In the summer months, most businesses are open from 8 AM to 4 PM, while the rest of the year standard hours are 9 AM to 5 PM.
In Iceland, requiring an employee to work more than 13 hours per day is prohibited. Unless an employee’s contract states otherwise, overtime pay starts after 8 hours per day and for the first 162.5 hours of overtime in a month, the employee is paid at a rate of 0.875% of their regular pay.
The minimum amount of vacation time an employee receives in Iceland is 24 days per year and is paid at a rate of 10.17% of the employee’s total wages. Depending on how long an employee has worked for the same employer, they may receive additional vacation days.
Iceland offers 16 paid public holidays to employees each year. Most of these holidays are around either Christmas or Easter. If an employee is asked to work on a public holiday, they are compensated with 1.375% of their monthly salary for each hour worked.
Working part time is common in Iceland. Of Iceland’s total workforce, nearly half (or 48%) are employed part time. Women in Iceland are far more likely to be employed part time than men. 60% of the total female workforce works part time, while only 38% of Iceland’s male population works part time.
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, many people in Iceland worked remotely at least some of the time. At the end of 2019, approximately one third of Iceland’s employees between the ages of 25 and 64 worked from home.
Although this number rose during the pandemic, the overall number of Iceland’s employees who work from home has decreased since 2019. As of 2022, Iceland had approximately 64,000 remote workers.
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