Could AI silence the four-day work week critics?

The link between AI and working more efficiently is hard to deny. In almost every industry, productivity gains can be made using AI tools, whether that be in automating tasks, supporting with planning, or helping with communication. But this doesn’t mean it has to replace people.

In fact, AI is starting to become the next logical step for many businesses to support flexible working and ensure a focus on worker wellbeing and getting the right people for the right job. When it comes to the impact of AI on facilitating a work-time reduction, it could be the very catalyst needed for businesses to trial different working hours, bolstered by AI support.

AI survey sentiment

This view is something we explored recently in our survey of UK workers where we asked over 4,000 of those in full-time employment how helpful they felt AI could be in making a work-time reduction possible in their industry. The results were overwhelmingly supportive of using AI to enable a work-time reduction by cutting down admin work (72%), automating routine, manual tasks (69%), and making workflow better (66%).

The findings support the growing narrative of AI as a powerful tool for handling time-consuming, repetitive tasks, allowing employees to focus on more meaningful, strategic work. Interpersonal experiences in the workplace may also benefit from the use of AI, as 60% noted improvements in customer service, indicating that AI may enhance the quality and responsiveness of client-facing roles, and 46% believe it enhances teamwork, potentially through better coordination, communication tools, or intelligent task delegation.

The four-day week question

The four-day work week has been well documented as a way for businesses to improve productivity, efficiency and employee wellbeing. But there are also sceptics who doubt its merits, or those who feel it is too difficult to make it work in practice.

When asked directly about the potential for AI to contribute to a four-day working week, 57% of respondents agreed it could become a reality with increased AI integration. This optimism rises significantly among those in recruitment and HR, with 73% expressing confidence in AI's potential to enable this shift – possibly reflecting their vantage point in observing workforce dynamics and organisational change. Over three-quarters of those in IT also agreed (78%) closely followed by information research and analysis (75%), marketing, advertising and PR (73%), and publishing and journalism (73%).

The survey findings provide valuable guidance for business leaders wanting to explore AI as a tool for workplace effectiveness. The strong consensus around AI’s potential to reduce administrative burdens, streamline workflows, and enhance both learning and collaboration suggests that thoughtful AI adoption can lead not only to greater efficiency but also to more flexible work arrangements. As over half of professionals believe AI could help make a four-day working week a reality, leaders have a timely opportunity to rethink traditional work models, improve employee wellbeing, and strengthen their organisation’s competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talent.

AI in action

The inevitable impact of AI on how we work was also put into stark context recently by Mark Mullen, CEO of Atom Bank, in an article in Fortune magazine. His staff have been working reduced hours without taking a pay cut since 2021 and he believes “the advent of generative AI and mass levels of investment in the technology will begin to impact the labour market to the point that reduced working hours are a necessity, not a perk.”

With many countries and industries across the world dipping their toe into work-time reduction options, investing in the right AI tools could support a move to a more flexible way of working and allay fears surrounding the impact of reduced hours on productivity or business reputation. Achieving the right balance between worker wellbeing and maintaining a competitive edge, whilst reducing hours, could be AI-powered and closer than you think.

To find out more about Henley’s survey into worker attitudes towards AI, read our in-depth report ‘The AI High’.