Are people more productive when they work longer hours but only four days a week? Researchers in Iceland say yes. A study focused on 2,500 workers — about 1 percent of Iceland’s entire workforce — who were placed on four-day, 36 hours-per-week schedules has found “transformative positive effects of a shorter working week for both employees and businesses alike,” researchers say. “This study shows that the world’s largest-ever trial of a shorter working week in the public sector was by all measures an overwhelming success,” says lead author Will Stronge. “It shows that the public sector is ripe for being a pioneer of shorter working weeks — and lessons can be learned for other governments.”

The Iceland trial ran from 2015 to 2019 and had an overwhelmingly positive result that’s hard to ignore. Aside from greater work-life balance, the four-day week was shown to neutralize stress and feelings of burnout, boost productivity and wellbeing across the board, and seemed to prove that it really is about working smarter, not harder. Companies here are taking note: Kickstarter is launching a four-day workweek for its employees starting in 2022. Kickstarter will become the first company to join a set of pilot programs called 4 Day Week US. The programs, launched in part by Kickstarter executive Jon Leland, are a spinoff from 4 Day Week Global, a not-for-profit that promotes a shortened work schedule. On Monday, 4 Day Week US circulated this employee petition that you can sign to help identify companies to target, and encouraged employers to join the program.