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A 4-Day Work Week with the Same Salary You Had Before?

Iceland's 4-Day Work Week Test Proves to Be a Success—One More Reason to Move There?!

Published by
David_Greer·12/14/2021
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In recent years, Iceland has become a dream destination for more and more travelers: wild nature, geysers, volcanoes, glaciers, incredible views that seem to be from another planet, thermal lagoons, and of course the northern lights could play a role.

But what if we told you that there is a reason to consider Iceland not just as a potential tourist destination, but also as a country to move to?

Between 2015 and 2019, a trial of a 4-day work week for a 5-day work week's pay took place in Iceland, and guess what? It turned out to be a huge success!

Keep on scrolling to find out more.

Details

As reported by the BBC, the experiment involved a not-so-small number of the island's population (about 2,500 people) and went on for a good five years, focusing mainly on public sector workers. Workers saw their hours reduced from 40 a week to around 35 a week and worked only 4 days a week — all that without having to give up a portion of their salary.

Success was very high among the workers themselves, who said they felt less stressed and at much less risk of burnout. Moreover, there was clear benefit in regard to overall health and work-life balance. The experiment went very well on the employer side of things too — productivity didn't just not drop, it actually improved!

Similar experiments are being tried out on a smaller scale in a number of other countries around the world. This is taking place everywhere from Spain to New Zealand, where the company Unilever has cut working hours by 20%, while keeping salaries the same.

But the Icelandic experiment is, until now, the largest ever carried out, with around 1% of the population involved.

Its success has led unions to renegotiate agreements across the country, and it's estimated that 86% of Icelandic workers have either already reduced their working hours, or are currently in the process of moving to reduced hours for the same pay.

What do you think, pirates? Is it time to move to Iceland? If not, is it time to move Iceland's success closer to home?

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