For one month last August, the company implemented a three-day weekend every week, calling the Fridays “special paid vacation” that did not come at the expense of any other vacation time – and the results turned out to be incredible.
According to the company, the employees took 25.4 percent fewer days off during the month, printed 58.7 percent fewer pages, and used 23.1 percent less electricity in the office, saving money for the company.
The productivity went up by a staggering 39.9 percent, meaning that even though the employees were at work for less time,they got more work done.
A lot of the increase in productivity is attributed to the changing of meetings: with only four days many meetings were cut, shortened, or changed to virtual meetings instead of in-person to get the work done on time.
Moreover, 92.1 percent of employees said that they liked the four-day workweek at the end of the trial. Due to its success this year, Microsoft is planning on repeating it again next summer or perhaps at other times as well.