Microsoft Japan trials 4-day work week, productivity boosted by 40%

Shorter, more efficient meetings and a 4-day work week boost Microsoft Japan productivity by 40%

@anthony256

Published Nov 3, 2019 11:17 PM CST
Updated Nov 3, 2020 12:46 PM CST

34 seconds read time

Microsoft Japan recently went through a trial of a 4-day work week, with the results of the experiment showing that there was a huge 40% increase in productivity.

Microsoft Japan trials 4-day work week, productivity boosted by 40% | TweakTown.com

The 40% increase in productivity was mostly through shorter, more efficient meetings which saw all 2300 staff at Microsoft Japan taking 5 Fridays off in a row with the same salary, and no days removed from their annual leave. Microsoft Japan named the project the "Work-Life Choice Challenge Summer 2019".

Microsoft Japan president and CEO Takuya Hirano said: "Work a short time, rest well and learn a lot. It's necessary to have an environment that allows you to feel your purpose in life and make a greater impact at work. I want employees to think about and experience how they can achieve the same results with 20 percent less working time".

Anthony Garreffa

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.