LinkedIn’s recently published “25 Big Ideas That Will Change Our World in 2025” highlights a groundbreaking prediction by Zoom founder and CEO Eric S. Yuan: AI will enable a four-day workweek by 2025. This bold claim is more than just a future vision—it’s a validation of what the Canadian consulting and advocacy group Work Time Reduction has been championing for years. Their CEO, Joe O’Connor, is at the forefront of this movement, helping organizations use AI to create “time dividends” that allow employees to work smarter, not longer.
In this interview, O’Connor shares his insights into how AI is reshaping when and how we work, providing real-world examples and actionable steps for organizations to adopt a four-day workweek today.
Innovation & Tech Today: How soon do you think AI can make a four-day workweek a reality?
Joe O’Connor: For thousands of businesses all over the world, the four-day workweek is already a reality. For many others, the opportunity is here but merely buried under the rubble of inefficient meetings, processes, and collaboration.
Well before generative AI burst onto the scene, our team at Work Time Reduction was working with organizations to use technology to streamline administrative processes and automate repetitive tasks in order to unlock work time reduction. AI is another powerful tool in the arsenal of organizations, teams, and individuals, which has substantially increased the potential to work less and get more done.
In the next 5-10 years, the scope of this opportunity will exponentially increase as the technology advances, and we believe the adoption of four-day workweek models is likely to increase with it.
I&T Today: Why do you think AI is the key to transforming how and when we work?
O’Connor: The pandemic was the first great disruptor that forced a recalibration of deeply embedded workplace norms, including the emergence of the four-day workweek as a novel strategy to tackle organizational problems with productivity, employee well-being, and burnout, as well as recruitment and retention. AI has the potential to further dislodge the traditional workweek against a backdrop where the credibility of new approaches to work, such as flexible schedules, results-based work, and four-day workweeks have already been well established.
I&T Today: Can you share examples of companies already using AI to reduce work hours? What industries are leading the way?
O’Connor: We’ve seen significant utilization of AI as a vehicle to work less and get more done across professional services, from law firms to agencies, and from consultancies to architecture and design firms. Here are two specific case study examples of Work Time Reduction clients and partners that illustrate the innovative approaches being deployed.
The Ross Professional Corporation, an industry-leading law firm in Southern Ontario, has underpinned its four-day workweek policy with strategic use of technology, including the deployment of AI — and particularly generative AI — as not just tools but integral partners to enhance the quality and efficiency of work and deliver more sophisticated, client-centered solutions.
Their CEO, Quinn Ross says: “From the outset, AI was [always] envisaged as a cornerstone of the work necessary to support this transition. It’s not just about doing the same work in less time, it’s about doing better work more efficiently. AI allows us to distill vast quantities of data into actionable insights, automate routine tasks, and thus frees The Ross Firm Professional Corporation team to focus on more complex, strategic elements of their roles.”
WebStrategies Inc., a digital marketing agency based in Virginia, strategically leveraged AI as part of its four-day workweek pilot in 2023.
Their CEO, Chris Leone says: “Our focus was on how AI can save the team time and how it can make us more informed. Anyone can ask a large language model (LLM) to write a blog post for them, so there’s nothing special or competitive about that—but if we can train these tools using data and information no one else has, we can produce really special things and that gets me really excited.”
They have positioned AI in a way that has created mutual alignment on a win-win opportunity between the business and its people.
“Regardless of the specific tools used, technology innovation has always brought improvements in efficiency. The simple math is that we can all save time in our day if we adopt these tools. The question then becomes, do we backfill that extra time with more work, or do we bank it and apply it to other parts of our lives instead? At WebStrategies, we are choosing the latter.”
I&T Today: What benefits have companies seen from reducing work hours with AI?
O’Connor: Many organizations are struggling to get their employees to enthusiastically buy into adopting new AI tools and integrating them into their workflows. According to a 2023 study by Leadership IQ, just 10% of staff are “excited” about AI adoption, and another 35% are “cautiously optimistic,” while the remainder say they are indifferent, reluctant, or outright resistant. That’s likely because most see AI as an extra tool they need to learn to use at best and a threat to their jobs at worst.
Without some kind of incentive, the data suggests most businesses will face resistance to adopting the technologies that will become a competitive differentiator in the very near future. By sharing the benefits of AI-powered efficiency gains with the workforce through worktime reduction, you can provide a powerful motivator to accelerate the rollout of new AI technologies in your business, as well as a game-changing differentiator in your employee value proposition to attract and retain top talent.
I&T Today: What steps should companies take now to prepare for a four-day workweek?
O’Connor: Even if you’re not yet ready to adopt a four-day workweek, every forward-thinking organization should be curiously exploring new and innovative work models, and planning for a future that is about better work rather than more work. As AI increasingly takes over the more mundane aspects of today’s work, this will elevate the importance of our most human traits like problem-solving, creative thinking, and decision-making. Organizations that prioritize a well-rested, motivated workforce by sharing the benefits of technology-augmented efficiency gains, rather than seeking to squeeze every drop of efficiency from the workforce, will thrive in this environment. This will transform how we view leadership, where managing the energy and motivation of your people becomes more important than monitoring their activity and effort.
Organizations can take initial steps like redefining productivity by designing success metrics that focus on outcomes rather than inputs, tackling meeting bloat, redesigning work schedules to increase flexibility, autonomy, and accountability, and embracing smart work, productivity practices, and time blocking to increase focus.
As Eric Yuan’s prediction gains momentum, the message is clear: AI isn’t just about working faster; it’s about working smarter and living better. Companies that begin exploring these strategies today will be ahead of the curve, ready to lead the future of work.
