Goodbye 9 To 5? More Than A Third Of Workers Want 28-Hour Week

For decades, a full-time job has meant 40 hours a week, five days a week, 9 to 5. A new international survey finds a large share of workers would happily toss out most of that formula. More than a third of respondents (37%) say their ideal schedule is a four-day workweek or shorter, capped at 28 hours. Compared with a standard 40-hour week, that cuts 12 hours, or about a day and a half of work.

Workers also want to move the clock. Half of those polled (51%) say the perfect workday starts before 9 a.m., and 42% want to clock out before 5 p.m. For many, the ideal day starts early and ends early, with little loyalty left for the old 9-to-5 frame.

Talker Research gathered the responses from 5,750 freelancers and full-time employees in five countries. Fiverr, an online marketplace that connects businesses with freelancers, paid for the survey. That gives the company a stake in results that make freelance-style work look appealing, and readers should keep it in mind as the numbers unfold.

Inside the four-day workweek wish list

Researchers surveyed 2,850 freelancers and 2,900 full-time employees from the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Germany and Australia between Sept. 21 and Sept. 29, 2026. All of them answered online. Questions covered how workplace trends have changed their daily routines and what an ideal workday would look like.

For people dreaming of a shorter week, the choice of which day to drop is lopsided. Two in five respondents (40%) want their weekend to start on Friday, while 19% would rather have Mondays off.

Meetings get trimmed in the ideal day, too. Respondents want no more than three meetings a day on average, yet a third of them currently sit through more than that. Freelancers average fewer meetings, though they also work about two hours more per week than full-time employees. A freer schedule, in other words, doesn’t always mean a lighter one.

Wanting a shorter week is one thing; expecting one is another. Asked which trends will shape the future of work, 29% picked four-day weeks. That put shorter weeks just behind AI assistants (32%) and working from anywhere (30%).

Office workers borrow freelancer habits

Full-time employees have been picking up what the survey calls “freelancer first” practices. Flexible work hours top the list (26%), followed by setting their own daily priorities (23%) and tracking their own output (22%). About one in five also keeps a professional profile (21%) or holds meetings by video instead of in person (21%).

Employers are nudging in that direction as well. Among respondents, 37% say their company encourages using generative AI tools, and 17% say it encourages being paid per project.

Some workers would pay for more control. Among full-time employees, 43% would take a pay cut if it meant being their own boss. According to the release, the average respondent would give up about a quarter of their salary (24%) to make that happen.

“We’re seeing a confluence of reasons that are pushing the world to work the way freelancers do, from freedom and flexibility to the chance to pursue their passions and choose the projects they work on,” said Sharon Steiner, chief human resources officer at Fiverr.

AI and the future of the four-day workweek

Shorter weeks share the wish list with new technology. Respondents expect AI fluency to become a job requirement (26%), and 22% of employees say it already is one. Most respondents believe it’s important to invest time learning how AI can improve their workflow (74%) and then to follow through on that learning (71%).

Freelancers appear quicker to jump in. A third of them (33%) said they wanted to adopt AI “immediately,” compared with 27% of full-time employees.

“The emergence of AI has fundamentally shifted how, where and when people are working today,” Steiner said.

Readers should be clear about one limit: the survey doesn’t measure whether AI actually shortens anyone’s week. It captures what workers want and expect, not what their employers have agreed to.

For generations, the 40-hour week has held its ground. A 28-hour version now has a sizable fan base, with more than a third of workers in five countries ready to cut the hours and claim Friday. Whether bosses will sign off is a separate question, and one that a survey paid for by a freelance marketplace can’t answer.

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