Ireland | A major international research consortium has secured over €3 million in Horizon Europe funding to conduct one of the largest global assessments of the four-day working week. The cross-border project brings together nine partner institutions from seven countries to examine how organizations can successfully transition to a 32-hour work week without reducing employee compensation.The comprehensive study will analyze extensive dataset metrics compiled from approximately 390 small and medium-sized enterprises and 12,000 workers participating in global employment trials. Academic investigators from the school of social policy will lead research evaluating how reduced working hours influence employee health, workplace productivity, household labor distribution, and corporate competitiveness. Additionally, environmental policy specialists will investigate how employees utilize their extra leisure time to determine if shorter schedules trigger ecological rebound effects, such as increased travel or carbon consumption. The project will ultimately deliver a multilingual, AI-enabled knowledge hub to provide evidence-based guidance for policymakers, trade unions, and civil society organizations navigating the future of labor.
Source: University College Dublin
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