• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns

2

Anthropic disables Fable and Mythos AI models after U.S. government bars it from giving foreigners access

3

U.S. energy secretary says 7 million barrels of oil exiting Persian Gulf daily, but Chevron CEO rebuts the claim

1

Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns

2

Anthropic disables Fable and Mythos AI models after U.S. government bars it from giving foreigners access

3

U.S. energy secretary says 7 million barrels of oil exiting Persian Gulf daily, but Chevron CEO rebuts the claim
Successflexible schedules

Workers strike a bargain with CEOs: Flexibility over a 4-day workweek

By
Chloe Berger
Chloe Berger
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Chloe Berger
Chloe Berger
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 9, 2022, 3:59 PM ET
Businesswoman working on a laptop
Fewer workers are pushing for a four-day work week.Getty Images

Trends cycle through quickly these days, even in the corporate world. Less in vogue than it was only a month ago: the four-day workweek. 

Flexa Careers, a job directory for flexible positions, analyzed over 36,000 user searches on its site to discover the biggest priorities among job seekers. It found that they’ve lost some interest in “compressed hours,” defined as splitting the same number of working hours across fewer days. 

From June to July, the number of job hunters looking for a shortened workweek decreased by 20%. To be fair, this follows a 14% uptick in June, when the U.K.’s new trial of the four-day workweek led to a heightened interest in the compressed schedule.

But less demand for a flexible workweek doesn’t mean that flexibility isn’t still top of mind for candidates everywhere. It’s more that employees have realized that they don’t need to reinvent the wheel if they’re enjoying flexible hours while working remotely. 

As companies offer more flexibility around when their employees work, workers have been craving compressed hours less, Molly Johnson-Jones, CEO of Flexa Careers, tells Fortune.

“More businesses are allowing staff to set their own hours, or giving complete freedom outside of ‘core’ times when everyone has to be online,” says Johnson-Jones. “This means people are finding working rhythms that suit them, which is reducing the need to seek out a formal compressed hours structure.” 

People still love a four-day workweek, though

As employees pushed for a shortened workweek over the past two years, the number of employers offering a four-day schedule doubled since 2020, according to Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, program director at a nonprofit 4 Day Week Global, in May.

Early results from the U.K.’s four-day workweek trial have started to come out, revealing that despite some organizational hiccups, many workers enjoyed the new work-life balance that the compressed schedule offered. 

But with 95% of knowledge workers wanting flexibility, CEOs have started to recognize that the workweek will never look the same if they want to fight for new talent. 

“For us, the nine-to-five was on life support before the pandemic,” Steve Pickle, Salesforce’s EVP of employee success operations, told Fortune in March. “The pandemic took it off life support and put it right into the grave. It’s still dead, and we’re in a far better place.” 

The company has since embraced schedules wherein employees are not bound to coming into the office the entire week or working a specific eight-hour day. 

CEO of J.C. Penney, Marc Rosen, also noticed the heightened need for flexibility in the store’s distribution centers and mentioned that the company is looking for options to swap out schedules last minute. “Flexibility is critical right now,” he said at a Fortune CEO Roundtable sponsored by McKinsey last month.

As workers gain the upper hand in dictating their own hours across a five-day workweek, compressed hours may no longer matter as much.

Sign up for the Fortune Features email list so you don’t miss our biggest features, exclusive interviews, and investigations.

About the Author
By Chloe Berger
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Success

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Success

Melinda French Gates’ advice to new IPO millionaires: ‘Give half your money away’
Startups & VentureMost Powerful Women
Melinda French Gates’ advice to new IPO millionaires: ‘Give half your money away’
By Emma HinchliffeJune 13, 2026
16 hours ago
Aravind Srinivas wearing glasses
SuccessBillionaires
CEO of $20 billion AI firm Perplexity says the secret to success is ‘sleeping with that fear’ that your competitor will steal your idea
By Preston ForeJune 13, 2026
17 hours ago
Jamie Dimon says remote work breeds ‘rope-a-dope politics’ and stunts young workers’ growth
Successchief executive officer (CEO)
Jamie Dimon says remote work breeds ‘rope-a-dope politics’ and stunts young workers’ growth
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJune 13, 2026
17 hours ago
Raquel Urtasun
SuccessCareers
The ‘AI superstar’ CEO behind a self-driving truck unicorn on why Gen Z is a better hiring bet than industry veterans
By Preston ForeJune 13, 2026
18 hours ago
Bret Johnsen looks up, smiling, as he claps his hands.
C-SuiteSpaceX
SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen quietly engineered its historic IPO and became an overnight billionaire
By Sasha RogelbergJune 13, 2026
19 hours ago
t
C-SuiteElections
Upstate New York sticker mogul has a bronze Trump statue, MAGA hip-hop album and a presidential endorsement. The local machine wants the Marine
By Michael Hill, Anthony Izaguirre and The Associated PressJune 12, 2026
1 day ago

Most Popular

Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns
Real Estate
Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns
By Sydney LakeJune 13, 2026
17 hours ago
Anthropic disables Fable and Mythos AI models after U.S. government bars it from giving foreigners access
AI
Anthropic disables Fable and Mythos AI models after U.S. government bars it from giving foreigners access
By Jeremy KahnJune 13, 2026
22 hours ago
U.S. energy secretary says 7 million barrels of oil exiting Persian Gulf daily, but Chevron CEO rebuts the claim
Energy
U.S. energy secretary says 7 million barrels of oil exiting Persian Gulf daily, but Chevron CEO rebuts the claim
By Jordan BlumJune 12, 2026
1 day ago
Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back
Environment
Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back
By Catherina GioinoJune 9, 2026
5 days ago
Current price of oil as of June 12, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 12, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 12, 2026
2 days ago
SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen quietly engineered its historic IPO and became an overnight billionaire
C-Suite
SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen quietly engineered its historic IPO and became an overnight billionaire
By Sasha RogelbergJune 13, 2026
19 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.