More than 29,000 job listings on the specialist board 4dayweek.io now advertise some form of shorter or compressed week, spread across roughly 2,100 employers (site figures as of October 31, 2026). The jobs with four day work weeks fall into two very different groups. One is shift-based work such as nursing, emergency services, manufacturing and federal office jobs, where people work the same 40 hours in fewer, longer days. The other is a smaller but growing set of office and tech employers, from Buffer to Awin, that cut the week to about 32 hours and keep pay the same.
That difference matters more than the label. A “four-day week” on a job ad can mean four 10-hour days at the same pay, four 8-hour days at full pay, or four 8-hour days at 80% pay. This guide covers which occupations and named companies offer each version, what the biggest trials found, and how to find, vet and negotiate one of these roles in the US or UK.
4×10 Shifts, the 100-80-100 Model and What UK Pilot Firms Kept
- Compressed 4×10 schedules are common in shift work and the federal government, where OPM lets full-time staff finish their 80-hour, two-week requirement in fewer than 10 workdays. Hours and pay stay the same.
- The 100-80-100 model (full pay for 80% of hours, with output held at 100%) is mostly found at tech, marketing, finance and small professional-services firms.
- In the UK pilot of 2022, 56 of 61 companies kept the four-day week afterwards, and one year on at least 54 still had it, with 31 making it permanent.
- A 2025 Nature Human Behaviour study of 2,896 workers at 141 organizations found lower burnout and higher job satisfaction, with bigger gains for people who cut 8 or more hours.
- On a $60,000 salary, a 32-hour week at full pay lifts your effective hourly rate by 25%, while a 4×10 compressed week leaves it unchanged.
Three Kinds of Four-Day Week, and What Each Does to Your Pay
Before comparing jobs, pin down which version an employer means. Job boards and HR teams use the same phrase for schedules that pay very differently per hour.
| Schedule | Hours per week | Pay | Who typically uses it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compressed 4×10 | 40 (four 10-hour days) | Unchanged | Shift work, plants, government offices, field service |
| 100-80-100 (reduced hours) | About 32 | Unchanged | Tech, agencies, finance, nonprofits, trial companies |
| 80% pay, 80% time | About 32 | Cut to roughly 80% | Employers offering a part-time option rather than a perk |
| 9-day fortnight | 80 over nine days | Unchanged | Public sector, engineering firms, some UK employers |
| Summer or seasonal Fridays | Around 32 for part of the year | Unchanged | Basecamp, Shopify and KPMG have used seasonal versions |
The “100-80-100” name comes from the UK pilot run by 4 Day Week Global: 100% pay, 80% of the old hours, and a commitment to keep 100% of output. On 4dayweek.io, a listing tagged “4 Day Work Week” means 32 hours at full pay, while a separate “4 Day Work Week (80%)” tag flags jobs with a pro-rated salary. The same board lists far more compressed-week and nine-day-fortnight roles than true 32-hour roles, which tells you where most of the supply sits.
Jobs and Occupations That Commonly Work Four-Day or Compressed Weeks
Some careers come with a short week built into the rota. Others depend entirely on the employer. The split below is a practical way to think about your odds.
| Occupation or sector | Common schedule | How you get it |
|---|---|---|
| Hospital nursing and allied health | Three or four long shifts (often 10 or 12 hours) | Standard rota at many hospitals; ask about the shift pattern in interview |
| Police, fire and emergency dispatch | Rotating long shifts with multi-day breaks | Set by department or union contract |
| Manufacturing and plant operations | 4×10 or rotating shifts | Employer-wide; Toshiba trialled 4×10 for plant-floor staff in 2020, per a Build Remote roundup |
| US federal employees | Compressed work schedule within an 80-hour pay period | Allowed by OPM rules where the agency runs a program |
| City and state government | Four-day options for office staff | Policy-driven; Tokyo Metropolitan Government began offering it in April 2025 |
| Software engineering, DevOps and data | 32-hour weeks at full pay | Company policy; one of the larger categories on 4dayweek.io |
| Sales and customer success | 32-hour or compressed weeks | Company policy; Sales was the biggest filtered category on 4dayweek.io in October 2026 |
| Marketing, operations and finance roles | 32-hour or nine-day fortnight | Mostly smaller firms and agencies |
On the board’s filtered view checked October 31, 2026, Sales (131 listings), Engineering (107), Operations (106), Marketing (74) and Finance (40) were the largest categories for full-pay four-day roles. Seniority also skewed experienced: 369 mid-level and 185 senior listings against 82 entry-level ones. If you are early in your career, a compressed shift job is usually the easier way in.
Long-shift healthcare jobs deserve a caveat. Three 12-hour shifts give you four days off, but they are physically demanding and can include nights and weekends. For a wider look at which fields are growing, see our breakdown of the fastest growing industries in the US.
Companies With a Four-Day Work Week: Named Employers and Dates
The list below only includes employers whose four-day policy was reported by the company or a news outlet, with the date of that report. Policies change, so treat the date as the last confirmed point and check the careers page before you apply. Most entries come from Build Remote’s sourced roundup, updated February 2025.
| Employer | Sector | Schedule reported | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffer | Social media software | 32 hours over four days, full pay | 2020 (after trials) |
| Awin | Affiliate marketing | 32 hours, no salary cut | 2021 (after 6-month pilot) |
| Atom Bank (UK) | Banking | 34 hours over four days (from 37.5), no pay cut | 2021 |
| Bolt | E-commerce checkout | 32 hours over four days | 2021 |
| thredUP | Online resale | Four-day week (hours not published) | 2021 |
| Galt Pharmaceuticals | Pharmaceuticals | Four-day week | 2021 |
| Wonderlic | HR assessments | 32 hours over four days | 2021 (after 12-week trial) |
| Welcome to the Jungle | Recruitment media | 32 hours, salaries unchanged | 2019 (after 5-month trial) |
| D’Youville University | Higher education | 32-hour trial with no cut to pay or benefits | 2022 |
| Tokyo Metropolitan Government | Public sector | Option of three days off a week | April 2025 |
Four of these were still recruiting through 4dayweek.io on October 31, 2026: Awin (38 listings), D’Youville University (29), Galt Pharmaceuticals (21) and thredUP, whose openings included a staff machine learning engineer. Other names on the board that day included Intesa Sanpaolo (82 listings), 25hours Hotels (60), the Manufacturing Technology Centre (32) and Lucidya (30), each tagged with a shorter-week schedule. Read each listing carefully; a large employer may only offer the schedule in certain teams or countries.
Several famous examples were trials, not permanent policies. Microsoft Japan ran a 32-hour, full-pay trial in 2019, Unilever New Zealand ran a 12-month trial from 2020, and Kickstarter announced a test in 2022, according to the same roundup. Seasonal schemes such as summer Fridays at Basecamp, Shopify and KPMG are a perk for part of the year, not a four-day job.
What the 4 Day Week Global and UK Pilot Data Show
The 2022 UK Pilot: 61 Companies, About 2,900 Staff
The best-known evidence is the UK trial that ran from June to December 2022. It was organized by 4 Day Week Global with Autonomy and the 4 Day Week Campaign, and studied by researchers at the University of Cambridge and Boston College, according to the World Economic Forum. Results published in February 2023:
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Companies continuing after the trial | 56 of 61 (92%), per FM magazine |
| Companies making it permanent at the time | 18 |
| Sick days | Down 65% |
| Employees reporting less burnout | 71% |
| Employees reporting less stress | 39% |
| Staff departures over the trial | Down 57% |
| Revenue | Up about 35% on average against a comparable earlier period, among firms reporting figures |
Autonomy went back a year later. Its February 2024 follow-up found at least 54 of the 61 firms (89%) still running a four-day week and at least 31 (51%) treating it as permanent. Every manager or CEO consulted rated the impact positive or very positive; 82% saw better staff wellbeing, 50% saw lower turnover and 32% said recruitment had improved.
The 2025 Multi-Country Study in Nature Human Behaviour
A peer-reviewed analysis by Wen Fan of Boston College and economist Juliet Schor, published in Nature Human Behaviour, pooled 2,896 employees at 141 organizations in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland and the US. Each ran a six-month, income-preserving four-day trial, and 285 workers at 12 non-participating companies served as a comparison group. Burnout and job satisfaction improved the most, followed by mental health, with fewer sleep problems and less fatigue. Average hours fell by about five a week, and people who cut 8 or more hours saw bigger gains, The Register reported in July 2025.
What the Pilots Do Not Tell You
These were volunteer companies, mostly small and mostly in English-speaking countries, which the study authors themselves flag as a limit. A firm that signs up for a pilot already believes it can make the schedule work. The results are strong evidence that a well-run 32-hour week does not hurt a suitable business. They are weaker evidence that your employer, in your sector, will see the same.
Autonomy also found friction where the day off was weakly guaranteed or depended on hitting targets: staff found it harder to plan around. That is the clause to look for in any offer.
100-80-100 vs Compressed 4×10: Pay and Hours Compared
The same headline salary can mean very different value. Take a $60,000 salary and a 52-week year.
| Model | Hours per week | Annual pay | Effective hourly rate | Change vs 5×8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard 5×8 | 40 | $60,000 | $28.85 | Baseline |
| Compressed 4×10 | 40 | $60,000 | $28.85 | None |
| 100-80-100 (32 hours) | 32 | $60,000 | $36.06 | +25% per hour |
| 80% pay, 32 hours | 32 | $48,000 | $28.85 | Pay down $12,000 |
The 32-hour, full-pay model is a 25% raise per hour worked. The compressed week gives you the extra day but costs nothing to the employer, which is why it is far more common. You can test other salaries with our percentage calculator, or, if you freelance, the freelance hourly rate calculator.
Overtime Rules That Change the Math
- Federal law (FLSA): overtime for covered, non-exempt workers is based on hours over 40 in a workweek, so four 10-hour days normally do not trigger it.
- California: state law adds daily overtime, and employers need a formally adopted alternative workweek schedule to run 10-hour days without it, per the state labor commissioner.
- Federal employees: under a compressed schedule, hours beyond the set schedule count as overtime and credit hours are not allowed, OPM says. Holidays are paid at the number of hours in that day’s compressed tour.
- Holidays and leave: on a 4×10 rota a public holiday that falls on your workday is a 10-hour day. Ask how the employer converts holiday and PTO allowances into hours.
How to Find Jobs With a Four-Day Work Week
- Start with niche boards. 4dayweek.io lets you filter by schedule type, remote or onsite, seniority and country (the US and UK had the most listings in October 2026).
- Search mainstream boards with exact phrases. Try “32-hour week”, “4×10”, “compressed schedule”, “9/80” and “nine-day fortnight” in quotes on LinkedIn or Indeed.
- Target employers that published results. Companies that ran a public pilot and kept it are the lowest-risk bet.
- Check the public sector. Federal agencies, cities and some councils run compressed or four-day programs, often described under “alternative work schedules”.
- Confirm the details before applying. Is it 32 hours or 40? Is pay pro-rated? Is the day off fixed or rotating? Does it apply in your team and country?
Questions to Ask in the Interview
- Guarantee: is the day off written into the contract or a revocable policy?
- Coverage: do customer-facing teams rotate days off, and will you be on call?
- Targets: is the schedule conditional on output metrics, and what happens if a team misses them?
- Benefits: are PTO, 401(k) or pension contributions and bonuses calculated on full-time pay?
How to Negotiate a Four-Day Week in Your Current Job
Most people who get a short week do it by asking, not by switching jobs. Pitch it as a business case.
- Propose a trial. Three months with a review date is easier to approve than a permanent change.
- Choose the model you can defend. A 4×10 costs your employer nothing, so it is the easier first ask. A 32-hour week at full pay needs output evidence.
- Set measurable output. Agree in advance on deliverables, response times or sales numbers that prove nothing slipped.
- Cover the gap. Explain who handles your work on the day off and how urgent issues reach you.
- Cite the evidence. The UK pilot’s 57% drop in departures and 65% fall in sick days speak directly to a manager’s hiring costs.
- Have a fallback. A nine-day fortnight or summer Fridays may be approved where a full four-day week is not.
Put the proposal in writing so the agreed terms survive a change of manager. Check how your country’s holiday calendar interacts with a fixed day off; our list of public holidays by country helps if most holidays land on Mondays.
Who a Four-Day Schedule Suits, and Who It Does Not
| Good fit | Poor fit |
|---|---|
| Deep-focus work with clear deliverables | Roles paid for coverage hours, like reception or retail floors |
| Parents who can use a weekday for childcare | People with long commutes who struggle with 10-hour days |
| Caregivers, students and side-business owners | Jobs with strict daily client service windows |
| Teams willing to cut meetings | Workers who would lose overtime income under a rota change |
If you want a career change rather than a schedule change, our guide to the highest paying certifications without a degree covers several routes that run on shift patterns.
Four-Day Work Week Jobs: Questions People Ask
What Jobs Have a 4-Day Work Week?
Nurses and other hospital staff, police, firefighters, plant workers and many federal employees commonly work compressed weeks of long shifts. Office jobs with true 32-hour weeks are most common in software engineering, sales, marketing, operations and finance at companies such as Buffer, Awin and thredUP.
Do You Get Paid the Same on a Four-Day Week?
It depends on the model. On a compressed 4×10 or a 100-80-100 week, pay stays the same. Some employers offer four days at 80% pay, which is really a part-time contract.
Is a 4×10 Schedule Better Than a 32-Hour Week?
A 32-hour week at full pay is worth more, because you earn 25% more per hour worked. A 4×10 gives the same extra day off but keeps 40 hours, and long days can be tiring.
How Many UK Companies Kept the Four-Day Week After the Trial?
Of the 61 companies in the 2022 UK pilot, 56 continued straight after it ended. A year later at least 54 still had a four-day week and at least 31 had made it permanent.
Are Four-Day Week Jobs Remote?
Some are. On 4dayweek.io in October 2026, the filtered listings split into 164 remote, 379 hybrid and 180 onsite, so most four-day roles still expect some office time.
UK Pilot Results, Autonomy’s Follow-Up and the Nature Study
- World Economic Forum: Results of the UK four-day week trial (March 2023)
- FM magazine: Less is more when it comes to the workweek (May 2023)
- Autonomy: Making It Stick, the UK four-day week pilot one year on (February 2024)
- Fan and Schor, Nature Human Behaviour (2025), RePEc record
- The Register: Four-day week study (July 2025)
- Build Remote: Four-day work week companies (updated February 2025)
- Popular Science: Tokyo four-day work week (December 2024)
- OPM: Alternative work schedules, compressed work schedules
- 4dayweek.io job listings (checked October 31, 2026)
- US Department of Labor: Overtime pay
- California Labor Commissioner: Overtime FAQ
