The 4 Day Week

How the Flexible Work Revolution Can Increase Productivity, Profitability and Wellbeing, and Create a Sustainable Future

By: Andrew Barnes, Stephanie Jones

Narrated by: Andrew Barnes

Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

Shortlisted for the Business Book Awards 2021.

In The 4 Day Week, entrepreneur and business innovator Andrew Barnes makes the case for the four-day week as the answer to many of the ills of the 21st-century global economy.

Barnes conducted an experiment in his own business, the New Zealand trust company Perpetual Guardian, and asked his staff to design a four-day week that would permit them to meet their existing productivity requirements on the same salary but with a 20 percent cut in work hours. The outcomes of this trial, which no business leader had previously attempted on these terms, were stunning. People were happier and healthier, more engaged in their personal lives, and more focused and productive in the office. 

The world of work has seen a dramatic shift in recent times: the former security and benefits associated with permanent employment are being displaced by the less stable gig economy. Barnes explains the dangers of a focus on flexibility at the expense of hard-won worker protections and argues that with the four-day week, we can have the best of all worlds: optimal productivity, work-life balance, worker benefits and, at long last, a solution to pervasive economic inequities such as the gender pay gap and lack of diversity in business and governance. 

The 4 Day Week is a practical how-to guide for business leaders and employees alike that is applicable to nearly every industry. Using qualitative and quantitative data from research gathered through the Perpetual Guardian trial and other sources by the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology, the book presents a step-by-step approach to preparing businesses for productivity-focused flexibility, from the necessary cultural conditions to the often complex legislative considerations. 

The story of Perpetual Guardian's unprecedented work experiment has made headlines around the world and stormed social media, reaching a global audience over 4.5 billion. A mix of trenchant analysis, personal observation and actionable advice, The 4 Day Week is an essential guide for leaders and workers seeking to make a change for the better in their work world.

©2020 Andrew Barnes (P)2020 Hachette Audio UK

A lovely and honest book, but lacks substance and diversity in examples

Thank you for this book, first off. There are helpful Insight.

However, first couple of chapters were pointing out all the flaws of the gig economy, rightfully so, but it felt very off topic.

There are many unanswered questions and I felt Andrew's video on YouTube was just as informative as the book but significantly more concise.

Eh…

Basically asserting how a 4 day work week can encourage growth for a company and create healthy productive employees. But it’s all geared toward big corporations with no talk that I heard (I didn’t finish last 2.5 hours) of small businesses and freelancers (except condemning “gig economy”). I support the 4 day work week and the creation of a healthier, more efficient workplace but he missed the mark for me as a freelancer who supports local businesses.

quality over quantity argument makes sense

I love the concept of a flexible four day expectation for work. If you're reading this book to get a better understanding of how a company increased productivity at a business profit AND individual mental health profit? this is a great example.

Presentee-ism versus productivity was the main concept in the first half of the book (i.e. workers acknowledged for being in an office chair rather than producing quality work). The subsequent half is an argument for social acknowledgment of responsibility to workers versus current worship of convenience. We close out the story with a call to action on climate change. Very interesting how that all came together.

Would read again. Would buy a physical copy, but maybe from a used store. Because climate change.

Some useful points covered but diluted

This book has some useful information in it, but it also has a lot of content which isn’t really related to helping you understand and implement a 4 day workweek. It feels like the opportunity has been taken to preach about all sorts of things, many of which are quite political and seem very biased.