If you’re looking to introduce a new, four-day work week schedule for your company, there are really only three existing, practiced options: 32 hours over four days, 40 hours over four days (also known as the 4-10 or compressed schedule), or a seasonal four-day work week (Fridays off in the summer).
But since I’m guessing you might be looking for somethinglikethe four-day work week to choose from, I’ve included two other schedule templates to consider: the 9-80 work schedule and the 9-72 schedule.
Under each schedule template, you’ll see a description and examples of companies using the schedule currently.
- 4-day work week (32-hour schedule)
- 4-10 schedule (compressed work week)
- 9-80 work schedule (5-4/9 schedule)
- 9-72 work schedule (every other Friday off)
- Summer Friday policy
👉 4-Day Work Week Schedule Examples 👈
Most Common 4-Day Work Week (32-Hour Schedule)
What is the 4-day work week schedule?
The company has four working days per week rather than five and each day consists of the normal eight-hour work day. That makes for a 32-hour work week (and a three-day weekend) for the full-time employees at that company.
When people talk about the four-day work week, they are typically referring to this schedule. In most cases, companies would remove Friday from the work week. Here’s a common format:
- Monday: 9-5
- Tuesday: 9-5
- Wednesday: 9-5
- Thursday: 9-5
- Friday: Off
Which companies do the 4-day work week?
Here are ten recognizable companies with four-day work weeks (in some capacity):
- Microsoft Japan
- Buffer
- Toshiba
- Shopify
- Unilever New Zealand
- Kickstarter
- Bolt
- Atom Bank
- Thredup
- Panasonic
See: Every Company Doing A 4-Day Work Week
Read: 32-Hour Work Week: The Complete Guide
4-10 Work Schedule (Compressed Work Week)
What is the 4-10, compressed schedule?
The full-time employees at a company work four days per week with 10-hour work days. This compresses a typical 40-hour work week from five days into four, giving the company the same amount of hours but in fewer days.
Here’s a common format:
- Monday: 8-6
- Tuesday: 8-6
- Wednesday: 8-6
- Thursday: 8-6
- Friday: Off
Which companies do a 4-10 schedule?
Company | Policy | Jobs | Story |
Think Productive | Permanent | United Kingdom:
| |
City of Redding, CA | Optional 9-80 | January 8, 2018 "The purpose of the Modified Work Schedule Policy is to enable City employees the flexibility of working a modified schedule rather than the traditional work week (8 am to 5 PM - 5 days per week)." | |
Lockheed Martin | Permanent | "Lockheed Martin Aeronautics adopted a 4/10 schedule allowing employees to have every Friday off and flex time during the work week to attend to personal business. Employees spend time during their three-day weekends with family and friends, finding new hobbies and interests and having more personal time without using vacation." | |
Toshiba | Trial | Japan: "Technology groupToshibawill begin a four-day workweek in June for employees on the plant floor, giving them one more day in exchange for longer hours while on site, maintaining the annual work hours." | |
City Of Morgantown, WV (City) | Trial | For the next year a large majority of workers employed by the City of Morgantown will be working four days a week. 'Employees will work their 40 hours in four days or four 10-hour days,' she said." | |
Morrisons | Permanent | United Kingdom: "Morrisons is reportedly set to shake-up its head office working practices by introducing four day weeks – although staff will still be required to work one Saturday a month. The changes include a reduction of weekly hours from 40 to 37.5 – working nine instead of eight hours a day over four days, plus a six-hour day one Saturday per month." | |
Elephant Ventures | Permanent | United States: "The software and data engineering company is testing out a compressedfour-day workweekstarting this week. Employees will have 10-hour days, Monday through Thursday," Kathryn Vasel wrote for CNN Business. | |
Procurify | Optional | Canada: "Procurify values its people and allows for a fully remote four-day workweek. Team members have the flexibility to work a four-day workweek like Ko or to spread their tasks over five days." | |
Iloilo, Philippines (City) | Permanent | "We need to adjust because of rising costs of fuel. This will mean savings on electricity and less traffic. As an added value, this will also allow our officials and employees to have quality time with their families for three days — Friday, Saturday and Sunday," said Mayor Jerry Treñas. City Hall targets to open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Thursday, to cover the required 40-hour work week. | |
Keller, Texas (City) | Trial | "The Keller Town Hall, Municipal Service Center and the records department of the Keller Police Department will begin a trial of the “compressed work schedule” for employees beginning on May 28, according to a post by the City of Keller." |
Read: 4-10 Work Schedule: Complete Guide
9-80 Work Schedule (Compressed Schedule)
What is the 9-80 (also known as the 5-4/9) schedule?
A 9-80 work schedule isn’t technically a four-day work week since everyother week has four working days. But this is a common, alternative schedule that companies consider to mix up the standard work week.
Over a two-week period, the full-time employees work a normal 80 hours. But instead of working 10 business days, the company works nine. Like the 4-10 schedule, the 9-80 schedule compresses the same amount of hours into fewer days. Typically, the company would give every other Friday off and then spread those eight hours that were missed over the other nine days.Here’s a common format:
Week 1
- Monday: 9-6
- Tuesday: 9-6
- Wednesday: 9-6
- Thursday: 9-6
- Friday: 9-5
Week 2
- Monday: 9-6
- Tuesday: 9-6
- Wednesday: 9-6
- Thursday: 9-6
- Friday: Off
What are some organizations that offer the 9-80 work schedule?
Organization | Policy | Jobs | Background |
BAE Systems | Permanent 9-80 | "BAE Systems, a global defense and aerospace company, offers a work schedule called 9/80, where employees work 9-hour days for 9 days and everyone in the group has every other Friday off. They introduced the schedule in 1996 to attract and retain employees during the dot-com boom." | |
Chevron | Optional 9-80 | "To accommodate the '9/80' work schedule, the work week will be redefined with every other Friday as a non-work day. The work week will begin after 4 hours (half way through the work day) on the Friday worked." | |
City of Corona, CA | Flexible Optional 9-80 | "For employees who work a 9/80 flex schedule, please note the following regarding how to report your regular time and overtime (OT): The term “Flex Day” means the day you work every other week (either on Friday or Monday, depending upon the schedule you have selected)" | |
Roth Staffing Companies | Permanent 9-80 | "The slam dunk is our flexible 9-80 schedule. The majority of our competitors average 12-13 hours per day. While they make a great living, they don't have a great like without the balance." | |
City of Redding, CA | Optional 9-80 | "The purpose of the Modified Work Schedule Policy is to enable City employees the flexibility of working a modified schedule rather than the traditional work week (8 am to 5 PM - 5 days per week)." | |
City of Coronado, CA | Permanent | "The CITY and the UNION acknowledge the implementation of the 9/80 work schedule for employees in the Public Services Department. The CITY will review, and, if feasible, implement a 9/80 work schedule proposal from the UNION for the Golf Course Operations Department." | |
Lockheed Martin | Permanent 9-80 | Work-life balance at Lockheed Martin is very opportune because we have a 9-80 schedule, so we get every other Friday off." | |
| Optional 9-80 | "Twitter announced support for a 9/80 schedule (1 day off every other week) but none of my reports were comfortable taking it until we announced that myself & team leads would be taking it. If you're a people manager, you have a responsibility to normalize actually using the perks." | |
Denbury | Partial | Listed under the company's time off policy: "9/80 Flexible Work Schedule for Employees in Plano" | |
General Dynamics | Optional 9-80 | "How flexible? Most employees are on a 9/80 schedule working 8, 9-hour days and 1, 8-hour day over a two-week period, getting every other Friday off. We also offer Holiday Leave, Paid Time Off and My Time – time off that doesn’t need to be accrued." | |
SAIC | Optional | "Optional work program providing the choice of having every other Friday offat most work locations.This flexible work program allows you to work 80 hours over 9 days and have an additional day off during a two-week pay period." | |
Textron Systems | Partial | "At Textron Systems, we have a variety of Compressed Work Week schedules for our employees. Depending on job function and location, we offer a 9/80 schedule (every other Friday off), a 4/10 schedule (every Friday off), or a combination of the two." | |
Aera Energy | Optional 9/80 | "You start with four weeks of paid vacation each year, 10 paid holidays each year and a 9/80 work schedule that gives you every other Friday off." | |
Leonardo DNS | Optional 9/80 | "We understand there is more to life than work. That’s why we believe it is important to offer such programs like our flexible work schedule with our 9/80 Program..." | |
Fluidra | Partial | "Our alternate work week (9/80) offers most employees every other Friday off." | |
UCLA | Partial 9/80 | "A full-time work schedule that consists of 40 hours in one designated workweek, or 80 hours in two consecutive workweeks. On our campus, alternate work schedules consist of flextime and compressed workweeks." | |
Hunt Consolidated | Partial | "A 9/80 work schedule allows our employees the flexibility to better meet their personal needs while also considering the needs of the office. Under this schedule, employees work 9 hours a day from Monday to Thursday; work 8 hours on every other Friday; and have the alternate Friday off." | |
Los Alamos National Laboratory | Optional | "The most popular work schedule is the '9/80'—employees work 80 hours over a nine-workday (two-week) period, with a Friday off every other week. Talk to your manager about available options and how to select the option that is right for you." | |
Headspace | Permanent | "Here atHeadspace Inc.we have a 4-day week every other week and our 5-day week has a no-meetings Friday. The Friday on our 4-day week is called a "MindDay" all employees are actively encouraged to take the day off for their mind." | |
Fifth Tribe | Trial | "We initially said it would be a two-month program during July and August. The way it worked was that we would look at all of the client accounts and split the company in half. This way, the clients wouldn’t experience any breakage in services." | |
Calibre | Permanent | "As the pandemic and restrictions were taking a toll on mental health and wellbeing, Ben, Calibre’s CEO, decided to switch to a four day (32 hours) work week, every two weeks, effective immediately." | |
University of Colorado | Optional | "As is required for the University worksite, the supervisor will establish the employee’s remote work schedule; supervisors have discretion to require the employee to track time worked and record hours not worked with the appropriate leave designation (annual, sick, comp time, leave without pay, etc.) and, if eligible for overtime, must receive supervisor authorization prior to working overtime." | |
City of Seattle | Optional | "The City’s normal hours of operation are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day from | |
San Bernardino County | Optional | "The County offers the 9/80 Work Schedule in order to provide a valuable employee benefit, support the County’s Commute |
Read:9-80 Work Schedule: Complete Guide
9-72 Work Schedule (Every Other Friday Off)
What is the 9-72 schedule?
This is where employees have a normal five-day, 40-hour week followed by a four-day, 32-hour week. In other words, every other Friday is off with normal work days outside of that. If you have positions that are required to be on during normal work hours (like client work or support), you could have half of your team on each Friday for coverage.
Here’s a common format:
Week 1
- Monday: 9-5
- Tuesday: 9-5
- Wednesday: 9-5
- Thursday: 9-5
- Friday: 9-5
Week 2
- Monday: 9-5
- Tuesday: 9-5
- Wednesday: 9-5
- Thursday: 9-5
- Friday: Off
What’s an example company that takes off every other Friday?
See Also:20 Creative Twists On The 40-Hour Work Week or Working 60 Hours Per Week
Seasonal 4-Day Work Week (Summer Friday Policy)
What is a summer Friday schedule?
During the summer months only, a company will offer some form of Fridays off. It’s a seasonal change to the work week schedule. This could be offered in the form of a seasonal 4-10, 9-80, 9-72, or by simply cutting Fridays from the schedule during the summer months.
Here’s a common format:
- Monday: 9-5
- Tuesday: 9-5
- Wednesday: 9-5
- Thursday: 9-5
- Friday: Off
Which companies offer Summer Fridays?
