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PsychChatDr Austin Aloysius Tay is the Founder and Principal Consultant of OmniPsi Consulting (www.omnipsi.com), an organisational psychology practice bridging Asia and the UK. Author: Dr Austin Aloysius Tay
Dr Austin Aloysius Tay is the Founder and Principal Consultant of OmniPsi Consulting (www.omnipsi.com), an organisational psychology practice bridging Asia and the UK. A Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol) and Fellow of both the British Psychological Society and the Hong Kong Psychological Society, he holds a PhD in Organisational Psychology and an LLM in International and Commercial Law, and is an ICF PCC Coach, EMCC Senior Practitioner, and ACT Practitioner. With over 30 years of commercial experience across pharma, financial services, FMCG, legal, telecoms, and international NGOs, Austin works across workplace psychology, psychometrics and assessment, leadership effectiveness, workplace bullying, evidence-based coaching, outplacement services, and ACT. In each episode of PsychChat, Austin explores the psychology of work through a practitioner's lens, offering research-backed insight for leaders, HR professionals, and coaches navigating the complexities of modern organisational life. Email psychchat@omnipsi.com or connect via X @psych_chat with comments or suggestions. Language: en Genres: Business, Science, Social Sciences Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Episode 059 - The Four-Day Week: What the Largest Trial Ever Actually Found
Episode 59
Friday, 18 September, 2026
The largest-ever four-day workweek trial, involving 2,896 employees, 141 companies, and six countries, found the opposite of what researchers expected. People didn't work faster and burn out. Burnout fell, satisfaction rose, and nothing changed in the control group (Fan et al., 2025, Nature Human Behaviour). But there's a catch: "four-day week" covers two very different policies, and a 2025 systematic review found that the wrong one can just as easily increase sickness absence (Bernstrøm et al., 2025). The benefit isn't the day off. It's who controls the recovery time (Mullens & Laurijssen, 2024, BMC Public Health).ReferencesBernstrøm, V. H., Alves, D. E., Houkes, I., Lillebråten, A., & Nilsen, W. (2025). The consequences of a compressed workweek: A systematic literature review. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-025-02153-8Fan, W., Schor, J. B., Kelly, O., & Gu, G. (2025). Work time reduction via a 4-day workweek finds improvements in workers' well-being. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02259-6Mullens, F., & Laurijssen, I. (2024). An organizational working time reduction and its impact on three domains of mental well-being of employees: A panel study. BMC Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-19161-xAbout PsychChatHosted by Dr Austin Tay, Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol, FBPsS), ICF PCC executive coach and founder of OmniPsi Consulting.Get in touchThoughts on this one? Email psychchat@omnipsi.com or find Austin on X, @psych_chat. New here? Subscribe.
