Reading · English · B1 · Text 1 of 10
Why an Office Tried a Four-Day Week
Practise B1 English with a balanced article about productivity, wellbeing, and the limits of a four-day week.
- 1Prepare
- 2Read
- 3Check
- 4Produce
- 5Wrap-up
1 · Prepare
Before you read
Your mission
Distinguish what actually changed, which problem appeared, and why the article avoids a universal conclusion.
Key vocabulary
2 · Read
Read at your pace
For three months, a small design company in Bristol tested a four-day working week. Employees worked from Monday to Thursday but received the same monthly salary. The experiment did not mean fitting forty hours into four very long days. Instead, teams shortened meetings, protected periods of quiet work, and stopped sending . The office was also closed on Fridays. At the beginning, several clients worried that would wait until Monday. The company responded by creating a shared emergency phone that one manager carried each Friday. In practice, the phone rang only twice during the entire trial. Productivity, measured by completed client projects, rose slightly. Sick days fell, and most employees said they had more energy on Monday mornings. Managers also asked employees to record , so hidden extra work would not make the results look better. However, the change created pressure in the finance team, whose monthly deadlines could not always move. During the final month, the company allowed that team to rotate its day off instead of closing completely. The trial did not prove that every organisation should adopt the same schedule. A hospital, a school, and a design office have very different responsibilities. Still, the experiment showed that reducing working time depends on redesigning work, not simply removing a day. The company decided to continue the policy for another six months while tracking client satisfaction and .
3 · Check
Check what you understood
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4 · Produce
Use the language
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5 · Wrap-up
Your result
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What you practised
- Identify results, limitations, and controls in an article.
- Distinguish a nuanced conclusion from a universal claim.
Support for Spanish speakers
Spanish speakers: in practice means en la práctica, while actually usually means en realidad.
Cultural note
The case is fictional and does not present one work model as universal; laws and sectors differ by country.
Frequently asked questions
What level is this reading?
B1.
Do the support tools reveal the answer?
No. Glosses explain vocabulary, but answers only appear after your attempt.
El texto, el glosario, las preguntas y las soluciones con su evidencia.