Should the standard full-time workweek be cut to four days with no pay cut?

The strongest result from the UK trial was not revenue, it was who did the dishes. Researchers found men on the four-day schedule spent significantly more time on childcare and housework, the kind of gender-equity gain that decades of corporate pledges never delivered. My daughter's daycare pickup stopped being a negotiation the week my company piloted Fridays off. Critics call this a perk for laptop workers, and they are half right, which is why the policy conversation should be about overtime rules and staffing, not about denying office workers a proven improvement. A shorter week does not just rest people. It redistributes life. The UK trial measured it: men spent 27% more time on childcare during the trial, a real shift in who does the care work.