When Zoom’s founder and chief executive, Eric Yuan, recently suggested that the workweek of the future might be only three days long, he was not speaking in isolation. His prediction echoed earlier remarks from Bill Gates, who has argued that technology could eventually make such a schedule possible, and Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia, who envisions a world where advances in artificial intelligence free workers from the drudgery of routine tasks. Together, these voices are advancing an idea that once belonged more to utopian manifestos than to mainstream boardroom discussions: the radical shortening of the workweek.
The Rationale: Productivity Without Presence
Artificial intelligence is beginning to take on tasks that once consumed hours of human labor. Reports, schedules, code drafts, and even marketing content can now be generated or streamlined by software. If machines can handle these functions efficiently, human workers could shift to higher-value pursuits or simply work fewer days without harming productivity. Yuan describes it as an opportunity to free up time. Gates has speculated that such productivity gains might eventually make a two or three-day week viable, while Huang has pointed to the likelihood of a four-day schedule, even if the pace of work on those days accelerates.
Lessons from History
History shows that reductions in working hours are neither impossible nor without precedent. At the dawn of the 20th century, six days of labor was standard in most factories and offices. But as electrification and mechanization lifted output, pressure grew to shorten the week. By the 1920s and 1930s, the five-day, 40-hour schedule that we now take for granted was widely adopted. Saturdays off were once considered radical; within a generation, they became an entrenched part of modern labor. The parallel to today is clear: technology again promises to multiply output, raising the question of whether our calendars must remain fixed in old patterns.
What the Trials Show
If the three-day week still feels distant, the four-day week is already being tested. Over the past few years, hundreds of companies across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia have joined pilot programs to study the effect of shorter schedules on productivity and employee well-being. The results have been striking. Workers report higher satisfaction, better mental health, and less burnout. Employers, meanwhile, have found that productivity often remains stable and in some cases improves, thanks to reorganized workflows, fewer meetings, and clearer priorities.
In Canada, enthusiasm for the four-day model is spreading, particularly in urban centers like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal where companies compete fiercely for talent. Professional services firms, technology start-ups, and creative industries have been among the earliest adopters, drawn by the twin promises of improved retention and stronger recruitment. Some mid-sized firms have already declared the experiment permanent, noting that younger workers in particular see compressed schedules as a sign of progressive management.
The data, however, comes with caveats. Most of these experiments involve knowledge-based roles where tasks can be automated, redesigned, or rescheduled without major disruption. Jobs that require constant physical presence, such as health care, education, or retail, are harder to compress. Moreover, many of the most successful pilots had the benefit of coaching and planning support, resources that not every firm can replicate. Still, the overall lesson is that shorter weeks are not merely a fantasy. Under the right conditions, they can work.
Scenarios for the Three-Day Week
Extrapolating from these trials, the pathway to a three-day week begins to take shape. In the near term, between now and 2030, compressed weeks are most likely to expand within technology, finance, and professional services, particularly in provinces with strong urban economies like Ontario and British Columbia. Quebec, with its cultural emphasis on work-life balance and government openness to progressive labor standards, could also become a proving ground.
By the 2030s, as governments begin to update labor laws and benefits systems, the practice could extend further into sectors like design, consulting, and even segments of public administration, especially in provinces already struggling to recruit and retain skilled professionals. In health care or education, change will be slower, though experiments with rotational schedules or hybrid staffing models may ease workloads. The prairie provinces, where resource industries dominate, are less likely to see early adoption, since mining, oil, and agriculture depend heavily on physical presence and continuity.
The longer-term horizon, stretching into the 2040s and beyond, is when the idea could begin to spread more broadly. If AI becomes embedded across the economy and not just in white-collar roles, the baseline productivity gains might allow for more radical reductions. The experience of four-day pilots suggests that once a shorter week takes hold in one sector, competitive pressures make it difficult for others to resist. Yet the divide will remain stark: employees in finance or tech towers in Toronto or Vancouver may enjoy three-day weeks while those in hospitals, classrooms, or warehouses continue with traditional schedules.
What It Would Take
To make the leap from four to three days, much more than technology will be required. Governments will need to rethink labor codes still written for the forty-hour week, and those shifts will likely happen province by province. Companies will need to experiment with new pay models so that shorter schedules do not become synonymous with lower wages. Cultural attitudes around productivity and presence will need to shift, just as they did a century ago when Saturdays were wrested away from employers. And, perhaps most importantly, society will need to embrace the idea that less time at work does not necessarily mean less value produced.
A Future Still in the Making
Eric Yuan’s prediction may sound bold, but it rests on both historical precedent and contemporary evidence. The three-day week is not yet a reality, but the four-day week is showing that shorter schedules can be both popular and productive. In Canada, where demographic pressures and labor shortages already challenge employers, the incentive to test new models may be even stronger than elsewhere. Ontario and Quebec could emerge as early leaders, while western provinces may lag until productivity gains in resource sectors become undeniable.
If the past is any guide, broad adoption will take decades, shaped by policy, culture, and economic pressure as much as by technology. For now, the three-day week remains more vision than norm. But in an era of rapid AI adoption, it is no longer unthinkable.