The dream of the four-day workweek, once seen as a transformative shift in the modern workplace, has stalled in the face of changing economic conditions and corporate priorities. After gaining momentum during the pandemic, when remote work and flexible schedules became the norm, the idea of working 32 hours a week for full pay seemed within reach for many. But today, that vision is on pause. Sluggish hiring, a return-to-office push, and rising pressure to maximize productivity have cooled enthusiasm for shorter workweeks. Some executives now promote grueling schedules like 9-9-6—working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—as a counterpoint to the idea of fewer workdays. This shift reflects a broader corporate trend emphasizing hustle over balance. Juliet Schor, a Boston College economist who has studied shorter workweeks, notes that management is pushing back on the gains workers made during the pandemic. “There’s a pushback from management on the things that workers were gaining,” she said. Meanwhile, Vishal Reddy, executive director of WorkFour, a nonprofit advocating for the four-day week, believes part of this shift is performative—CEOs signaling to boards and investors that employees are working harder than ever. The novelty of the four-day week has also faded since its peak in 2020 and 2021, when companies adopted it as a recruitment and retention tool. Now, sustaining momentum requires broader economic change and renewed worker power. Still, advocates point to promising signs: pilot programs are underway in states like New York and Maine, and companies that have adopted shorter schedules rarely revert to five-day weeks. AI presents a potential pathway forward. Pavel Shynkarenko, founder of contractor-management platform Mellow, argues that if AI boosts productivity enough, employers could afford to pay workers the same while cutting hours. A four-day week could also help prevent mass job loss due to automation by spreading work more evenly. In the long term, AI might even make a two-day workweek feasible. But for now, cost pressures and competitive industries like tech make shorter schedules difficult to justify. Shynkarenko warns that until the economy grows significantly—by high single or double digits—there’s little room for such changes. Even if the economic conditions improve, psychological barriers remain. Dale Whelehan, former CEO of 4 Day Week Global, highlights the “four-day guilt” some employees feel when working less, fearing they’re not contributing enough. Yet he remains optimistic, noting that research consistently shows shorter workweeks improve well-being and maintain or even boost productivity. Schor agrees the conversation isn’t over. While burnout and stress have improved from pandemic highs, they remain elevated. “We’re still in that level of heightened stress,” she said. When conditions shift—whether through economic growth, technological change, or worker demands—the four-day workweek may well return, not as a fringe idea, but as a necessary evolution of work.