These companies ran an experiment: Pay workers their full salary to work fewer days Companies in the United Kingdom are about to complete the biggest trial of a four-day work week ever undertaken, anywhere in the world.The program's thesis was a provocative one: that for six months, these companies would reduce their workers' hours by 20%, to 32 hours a week, but continue to pay them 100% of their pay."There is clear evidence around the world that if you reduce work time, you increase productivity," she says, pointing to findings from studies done in Iceland, New Zealand, the UK, Belgium and Japan.Laura Giurge, a professor of behavioral science who studies wellbeing at the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics, says happier, better rested workers are likely to be more productive, and less likely to burn out or churn out."For example, some organizations have condensed hours, so the number of working hours isn't actually reduced."