After experimenting with what many once imagined as the unthinkable, trials of a shorter working week which took place in Iceland are being hailed by researchers as an “overwhelming success”.

In a series of two large trials run by the Reykjavík City Council and the national government using public sector employees between 2015 and 2019, results confirmed that, thanks to a reduction in working hours but not in pay, participating workers displayed a dramatic increase in their overall wellbeing.

According to researchers from Autonomy and the Association for Sustainable Democracy (Alda), after shortening the workweek of participants, worker wellbeing “dramatically” increased across a range of indicators, from perceived stress and burnout to health and work-life balance.

The trials which involved 2,500 people – more than one per cent of Iceland’s working population – were aimed at maintaining or increasing productivity while improving work-life balance.

Data from the trials has since shown that productivity and services stayed the same or improved across the majority of workplaces, notwithstanding the shortened working hours.

Following the trials, Icelandic trade unions negotiated reductions in working hours for tens of thousands of their members across the country.

Shorter working hours a new norm in Iceland

To date, some 86 per cent of Iceland’s entire working population is now working shorter hours, or have gained the right to shorten their working hours, according to Autonomy and Alda.

Will Stronge, director of research at Autonomy, said the public sector trial “was by all measures an overwhelming success”.

“It shows that the public sector is ripe for being a pioneer of shorter working weeks — and lessons can be learned for other governments,” he said.