Under a series of labor market reforms announced by the Belgian government on Tuesday, workers will soon have the choice of a four-day workweek, along with legal protections that give them the autonomy to ignore work-related communication after hours.

"This would benefit those who wish to spend more time with their children.. The boundary between work and private life is becoming increasingly porous. These incessant demands can harm the physical and mental health of the worker,” Belgian labour minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne said in a statement.

Last year, a four-day workweek type experiment in Iceland with 2,500 workers from a range of workplaces, was celebrated as an “overwhelming success” when it found that productivity remained the same or improved by reducing working in this format.

These results led 86 percent of the country’s workforce to work towards adopting a four-day workweek.

Countries that are testing or have tested out four-day workweek programs with no impact on compensation for the 20 percent reduce in working hours include Scotland, Spain, Japan, and Iceland.

The UAE became the first nation in 2022 to adopt a four-and-a-half-day workweek with the weekend starting at noon on Friday and lasting till Monday. The country’s working hours on other days typically go from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm.

Is hustling making us sick, or keeping us going? Could the answer to combating burnout and increased anxiety and stress levels be slashing a day off the workweek? Will workplace relationships improve?

What would a four-day workweek mean for you? What would you do with that day, and how do you think your relationship to work would change?