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Condensing workweeks into fewer days to take pleasure in extra days off, what are the implications for worker well-being? New longitudinal analysis from Ghent College at IKEA Belgium challenges policymakers’ assumptions about the advantages of compressed work schedules, revealing each their potential and limitations in selling office well-being.
Compressed schedules—the place staff work longer every day hours to safe an extra time without work—are gaining traction as a technique to spice up work-life steadiness and handle rising burnout charges. Within the aftermath of a nationwide labor reform introducing the choice to work compressed, researchers from Ghent College adopted Belgian IKEA staff over 4 waves of knowledge assortment earlier than and after adopting compressed work schedules, assessing psychological detachment from work, work-related exhaustion, and burnout danger.
The findings, revealed in BMC Public Well being, present a nuanced image. On the one hand, they recommend that compressed schedules assist staff detach from work psychologically. Individuals take psychological breaks extra simply and suppose much less about work throughout their free time. Then again, compressed schedules don’t appear to considerably scale back the danger of burnout, which was one of many premises of the nationwide labor reform.
The research, grounded within the restoration literature, highlights that whereas extra days off assist staff get better within the quick time period, the work surroundings’s unchanged calls for and stressors go away burnout signs unaddressed.
Researcher Louis Lippens states, “The additional day off in a compressed schedule works like a micro-vacation: it gives employees a brief mental reset with more time for personal activities, helping them step away from work concerns. However, following this micro-vacation, people return to the usual work environment, where the same stressors, deadlines, and challenges await. Without changes to this work environment, some of the ongoing pressures contributing to burnout symptoms remain unaddressed.”
Thus, whereas staff might reap the advantages from these “micro-vacations,” the outcomes underline the necessity for holistic approaches to stop burnout. Employers ought to pair versatile schedules with measures that handle the broader work surroundings, akin to workload administration, supportive insurance policies, and psychological well being initiatives.
Lead researcher Kristen du Bois states that “offering compressed work schedules can be a valuable tool to help employees detach from work in their free time, which is essential for their recovery from work. Yet, policymakers should be cautious in assuming that the arrangements will reduce burnout in the labor market. Proper prevention requires addressing stressors in the workplace, not just offering temporary relief. Nevertheless, the schedules can be a valuable addition to an organization’s broader well-being strategy.”
Extra info:
Kristen du Bois et al, Time Tetris: a longitudinal research on compressed schedules and office well-being at IKEA, BMC Public Well being (2025). DOI: 10.1186/s12889-025-21323-4
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Ghent College
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IKEA research finds compressed work schedules might help staff change off from work, however don’t scale back burnout signs (2025, January 27)
retrieved 27 January 2025
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