Vast Majority of Canadians Want to Switch to a 4-Day Workweek: Poll

Many of us dream of a shorter work week. Could this dream actually become a reality in the near future?

A recent survey from Maru Public Opinion, a market research group, shows that a vast majority of full-time workers in Canada prefer a four-day work week. For the same pay, 79 percent of those full-time workers would rather take a shorter week averaging ten hours a day than the current five-day, eight-hour work week.

Results show the most likely provinces to make the switch were Manitoba and Saskatchewan at at 83 percent. At 82 percent, Ontario was third in line. The least likely to opt for the change at 74 percent was Quebec.

Women were 86 percent more open to the idea than men at 79 percent. Meanwhile, workers in the highest income category (making $100,000 or more) were the most open to the switch at 88 percent, followed by those in the lower-middle bracket ($25,000 to $49,000) at 81 percent.

The survey was conducted in late January and involved 1,518 randomly selected Canadian adults, as well as a subsample of 769 full-time Canadian employees with a margin of error of +/- 3.5%, 19 times out of 20.

Last fall, the Ontario Liberal Party said it would launch a pilot project to “analyze the potential for a four-day workweek” if elected in June 2022.

Japan, New Zealand, Ireland and Spain have already began to accommodate this new work week. It’s beginning to seem more possible that Canada could be next in line.