As part of an international test, thousands of workers in Ireland began testing four days a week.

Ireland is the only European country to participate in a six-month pilot project, along with the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The program is run by 4 Day Week Global in collaboration with other civil society groups and academics from Oxford, Cambridge and Boston College.

Employees of participating companies will receive their full pay if they work 80 percent of their previous working hours, but are committed to maintaining 100 percent of their productivity.

The organizers of the study will track the level of production, environmental impact and gender equality within the participating organizations. The study results will be published next year.

“We will analyze how workers respond to overtime in many other areas of life, including stress, fatigue, work, job satisfaction, health, sleep, energy expenditure, and travel,” said Juliet Shore, professor of sociology at Boston College. And lead researcher on the project.

“The four-day week is seen as a triple dividend policy – helping workers, businesses and the weather. Our research will examine all of this.

As many as 70 in the UK, at least 17 Irish companies of various sizes from different regions have joined the initiative. The plan follows similar programs implemented by individual companies in other countries, such as Iceland, between 2015 and 2019.

“As we face Pandemic, more and more companies are realizing that the new frontier of competition is living standards and that less time and productivity-focused work gives them competitive advantage,” said Joe O’Connor, Managing Director of 4. Day Week Global.

“The results of the Great Depression now show that workers in different industries can achieve better results by working less hours and working better,” he added.