When Başak Büyükçelen led the digital publishing platform Pressbooks through the transition to a four-day workweek, she knew the biggest hurdle would be psychology. “It needs to be a shift in the mindset for everybody,” she says. “It’s not something you can do overnight.”
For Büyükçelen, the four-day work week was not only a perk but also a structural change designed to improve focus, sustainability, and long-term performance. The results have been significant, with higher morale and measurable business outcomes. Below, Büyükçelen shares the key takeaways from Pressbooks’ transition to help other executives confidently advocate for a four-day workweek that strengthens both culture and performance.
Rethinking What Productivity Really Means
The immediate temptation when moving to four days is to compress five days of work into fewer hours. “The real workload redesign has to come from the people themselves. It’s not something you can decide operationally.” The adjustment is similar to starting a new role. It takes time to find a rhythm, and early volatility is inevitable.
There were operational considerations, too, of course. Customers still expect support on Fridays, and servers still need monitoring. Coverage planning was the only element that could be preemptively structured. Beyond that, teams had to discover their own pace.
Organizations that rely on sprint metrics such as Scrum velocity may initially see output fluctuate. “You’re going to be shipping less code and it’s going to be more volatile in the beginning,” she says. That short-term dip signals recalibration. The more strategic view looks beyond weekly output to long-term stability, where stronger retention deepens institutional knowledge over time. Instead of repeatedly rebuilding after turnover, teams sustain peak productivity and compound their expertise.
Mindset Is a Company-Wide Commitment
One of Büyükçelen’s early surprises was that not everyone welcomed the change enthusiastically. Some employees raised concerns about expectations and edge cases. Teams must recalibrate expectations of themselves and one another:
- What constitutes responsiveness?
- What qualifies as urgency?
- How do colleagues respect one another’s time?
“It’s not so much the leadership mindset,” she says. “It’s a mindset for everybody.”
Still, leadership example remains critical. Büyükçelen is unequivocal on this point. “The leadership team really needs to believe in why this is being done and then lead by example. You also have to take your Fridays off.” If executives continue working, employees interpret that behavior as the true expectation.
Guarding Against The Four Longer Days Trap
A common criticism of compressed schedules is that they simply produce four longer days. Büyükçelen counters that risk with intentional planning. Pressbooks teams that follow Scrum plan their sprints around 32 hours, not 40. Capacity is calculated based on reality. Crunch periods do arise, however. When someone must work on a Friday, the time is compensated elsewhere. “I treat that as any company would treat a Saturday,” she says. “If you had to work that day, leave earlier another day or come later.”
Artificial intelligence adds another layer of complexity. While AI tools can improve efficiency, they also create pressure for higher output. “Now that you have AI, your output should be a lot more,” she says, describing a growing expectation across industries. That assumption, however, can reintroduce overwork. Büyükçelen resists that drift. AI may help teams work smarter, but the number of human hours remains fixed, and the workload must stay aligned with those limits. Otherwise, the shorter week erodes under the weight of inflated expectations.
The Metric That Matters
For executives skeptical of alternative schedules, the ultimate question is performance. Did the four-day model deliver business results? Büyükçelen says yes, pointing to the fact that Pressbooks’ revenue stayed strong through the transition. The four-day week is a strategic decision grounded in long-term resilience. By focusing on retention, disciplined planning, and leadership integrity, Pressbooks demonstrated that fewer days can coexist with strong performance.
For Büyükçelen, the four-day workweek is ultimately about disciplined intentionality. When organizations anchor the shift in mindset, measurable outcomes, and visible leadership example, they redefine productivity as the quality and focus of work delivered rather than the volume of hours logged. “If the numbers are fine, you’re fine,” she says, a reminder that sustainable performance, not presenteeism, is the metric that matters.
Follow Başak Büyükçelen on LinkedIn or visit her website for more insights.
