The Dutch are quietly shifting towards a four-day work week

38 comments

1. To the proponents of a four-day week, there is almost no problem in modern life which the idea can’t solve — or at least ameliorate. Burnout? Tick. Gender inequality? Tick. Unemployment? Tick. Carbon emissions? Tick.

   Conversely, opponents see only problems: reduced economic output; damaged business competitiveness; strained public services; a weakened work ethic.

   But rather than argue over these predictions, or nitpick over the results of trials in individual businesses, why not look to the country that has already gone a long way down this road, without the rest of the world really noticing?

   The Netherlands has the highest rate of part-time working in the OECD (see chart). Average working weekly hours for people aged 20 to 64 in their main job are just 32.1, the shortest in the EU, according to Eurostat. It has also become increasingly common for full-time workers to compress their hours into four days rather than spread them over five, says Bert Colijn, an economist at Dutch bank ING. “The four-day work week has become very, very common,” he told me. “I do work five days, and sometimes I get scrutinised for working five days!”

   It all started with women. The Netherlands had a traditional male breadwinner model until women started to join the labour force in part-time roles in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, leading to what many called a “one-and-a-half” earner model. The tax and benefit system incentivised this arrangement. Over time, as these working patterns became normalised, working part-time has become more popular with men too, especially when they have young children.

   How can the experience of the Netherlands inform the debate in other countries? For a start, it suggests the predictions of economic self-harm are overdone. In spite of its shorter average working hours per person, the Netherlands is one of the richest economies in the EU in terms of GDP per head. That is because shorter working hours are combined with relatively high productivity per hour, and a high proportion of people in employment: 82 per cent of working-age people in the Netherlands were in employment at the end of 2024, according to OECD data, compared with 75 per cent in the UK, 72 per cent in the US, and 69 per cent in France.

   Women, in particular, have high employment rates in the Netherlands, especially compared with countries like the US, where average working hours are longer. In addition, people in the Netherlands tend to retire fairly late. It’s not that the population isn’t industrious, then — it’s rather that the work is spread out more across the population and the life course.

   That said, it hasn’t led to equality between the sexes. Although it is becoming more common for children to have a “papa day” when the father does the childcare, rates of part-time working are still much higher for women. And although working part-time doesn’t mean having to accept a low-paid or insecure job in the Netherlands, it does still appear to hold back women’s careers. A report by the OECD in 2019 found that the Netherlands “performs poorly” in some dimensions of gender equality. Only 27 per cent of managers were women, for example — one of the lowest rates in the OECD.

   The economy also suffers from labour shortages, especially in sectors such as teaching. This can lead to a vicious circle, whereby a staff shortage makes school hours more chaotic and unpredictable, which makes it harder for parents to commit to longer working schedules, even if they want to.

   But there are no easy answers when it comes to education and care. If everyone worked a five-day week, there would be a requirement for many more childcare and elderly care workers, because fewer people would be available to care for their own families.

   Colijn’s view is that the Netherlands is, in theory, holding itself back by working fewer hours. On the other hand, he adds, “I also wouldn’t want to propose any dystopian society where everyone is working more than Korean hours, just because it increases GDP.”

   The experience of the Netherlands suggests that a four-day week isn’t nirvana. But nor is it a fast-track ticket to economic ruin. The real lesson, I think, is that it is perfectly possible to arrange and distribute work in many different ways. It is just about the trade-offs you are willing to make, both within the economic realm, and beyond it. Speaking of going beyond economics, one underplayed argument for the four-day week is surely this: children in the Netherlands rank as the happiest in the rich world.

2. Work reform always starts in Europe, while others cling to outdated 5-day chains.

3. I will also consider a 4days week, maybe like 30h/week once my wife starts to work again half-time after kids. I think then everybody can work but its not too stressful to get everything managed

4. Are we? 4×9 I guess

5. I enjoy working but I exist for the people that I love.
   Spending time with them is my ultimate priority and the only thing that brings me ultimate happiness.

   It is wild how we have normalized that we should work for the most of our small lives.

6. I somewhat recently got a job with 7h days, and its light and day. If I’m there at 8am I can leave at 3:30pm and still have what feels half a day. I’m not completely tired when coming from work, my sleep improved, and I’m 99% sure my performance is better than with an 8h day.

   Its awesome, and I’m never going back.

7. Are they?

   Quietly, very sneakily I dare to say, as I have yet to see this in real life around here.

8. I work in a field where 36 hours is full time. I get the freedom to schedule this in a 4×9 manner.

   I need to prepare meals for 3/4 days a week (whenever I can”t WFH) because the days are pretty long (7:00-16:30 usually). I work out before work so I am pretty much done when I get home, but man, that 3-day weekend can’t be beat.

9. Somebody will have to do household tasks. Cooking, cleaning, garden and so on. This used to be the woman. But when my girlfriend and I are both working we have two options. Both do a 4 day week, one day of household stuff and two days of weekend. Or both do a 5 day week and then subscribe to all sorts of nonsense to help us save time; gardener, cleaner, Hello Fresh, hire a painter every once in a while.

   I think option two just isn’t financially viable. And doing stuff at home makes me happy and am aware the fact that we have a nice house/living surroundings.

10. But how will it work? Will be one more holiday on a week for everyone, or will people choose any day of the week?

11. are we? Too bad, cant read it 🤷🏻‍♂️

    so I have to assume things: I guess it’s based on the average. Most women work parttime (3-4 days), while men work 4-5 days. Depends on if you have children and the flexibility/tradition of the employer. It’s also a tax thing, working 5 days often isn’t worth it

12. A lot of people do it because childcare is so expensive and this way the child only has to go 3/5 days to daycare (both parents each work a day less). This is often financially a smarter choice and something which is always conveniently forgotten by a lot of the critics (the term ‘part time princesses’ comes to mind).

13. We’ll have a decision to make when AI really hits. Are the benefits to go to billionaires, or are we going to let people get a better work/life balance.

    I’m not optimistic on how this will turn out.

14. Does anybody have the graph from the article?

15. Because you have to. Childcare is so expensive, it’s cheaper to stay home a day per week

    2 kids in the kindergarten (3days/week) is like 2.5k€/month

16. Italy permitted that only for politicians. For common people is forbidden by law.

17. inb4 corporate backed governments gaslight their citizens this is COMMUNISM.

18. I randomly got a day off (teacher) and …. I will not go back. I’d rather accept a 40% paycut to get that one day off.

19. The “average hours worked” has a big problem: it doesn’t exclude all the part-time workers, like students. In many European countries (most?), no one ever works 16 or 24 hours a week. In the Netherlands, that’s normal for students, which is why the employment rate is so high. This brings the average down, but if we’re talking about a normal adult, it’s typical to work full-time.

20. It’s been happening for years

21. ‘Quietly’

22. Well Done, we’ve been on that voyage for what 40+ years. Well Done Bravo 👍🏼

23. Why are they doing it quietly? 😅 Let everyone know so maybe others will follow

24. An actual true four day work week i.e. 30 hours? Or just 37 hours compressed into four days?

25. Does this apply for the MBO aswell? Would be nice.

26. Vrimibo starts earlier every time

27. Which industries are leading the way here?

28. I work full time, which is 38 hours a week at my employer, and a lot of people are still surprised because it’s still not typical for a woman to work full time here.

    I think the numbers are skewed because of the people who have to work reduced hours to take care of their kids (usually the mother). Most of my female colleagues don’t work on Wednesdays because the schools have a half day. My sister in law, whose kids are grown and out of the house, turned down a job because it was three days a week… She’s used to 20 hours/week max.

    I don’t have kids, enjoy my job, like having my own money and being able to pay for stuff like my house and food, but would enjoy an actual four-day work week if and when it becomes the norm.

29. Currently at 36h (4×8 +1×4). Planning to switch to 4×8 in 1 or 2 years (office job). Generally speaking for most of my colleagues you start with 40 hours when you are younger (need the money) and reduce hours when you get older and you make more money. Luckily our company is extremely flexible with contracts. You can do:
    5×8, 4×9, 4×8, 3×8 or like me 36 hours every week or 40 one week and 32 the next week.. And all you do is fill in a form and that’s it.

30. In Finland some companies do 32h workweek with 32-40h pay.
    Literal 4 day work week was tried,but in long run it reduced total productivity. But when you snip around 2 hours off each work day, it kept productivity on same level as 40 day work week, or in some brain work, actually increased production.

31. moving

32. Please, put a censor to such posts for us Greeks. What do you want us to have a heart attack?

33. A 4 day work week isn’t that simple you have a manual labor job in production or a warehouse. There are physical limitations to how fast you can perform your work. If we are talking about 4 8hour days with the same wage as a 5 8hour days, then this is going to actually make things worse.

    The employer will just expect you to do all the work in less time than before. So more work pressure and possible safety concerns that emerge from having to work faster.

34. Yea I just talked to a guy who said he’s managed to negotiate 4 workdays but get full 5 days benefits. He’s working in logistics and he’s very happy to work like so because he loves to travel.

    I’d like to have the same here in France if possible, even if I had to work more each day.

35. It’s financially not intresting to work 5 days. If you have children, daycare/afterschool care is quite expensive and the subsidies get lower the more you earn. This means that the differance between a 4-5day workweek is very low if you calculate net income minus subsidies.

    For me the difference a 4 or 5 day week is only €150,- a month.

    I would consider working more if i accually gained from it.

36. To be clear – it is not THE 4-days work week the internet is talking about a.k.a. “work 4 days get paid for 5 days” or 4 days x 9 hours

    It’s just that many employees are fine with 32 hrs a week contracts where hourly rate doesn’t change.

    It is not progressive or whatever. It is just dictated by the sky-high costs of childcare. Average family would have to pay more for a day in child care than they would earn per day. So reduced working week is a compromise here.

37. Yeah Why would you work 5 days when its still impossible to buy a house if you work 24/7

38. Daycare is very expensive so it’s better to take a day extra off for most people.

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