Imagine finishing your last patient session on a Thursday afternoon, knowing you’ve got three whole days ahead to recharge, spend time with family, or simply catch your breath. The idea of a four-day working week has been making waves around the world, promising a better balance between work and life. But what does this look like in physiotherapy? Can shorter work weeks ease burnout and help keep physios in the profession, or will they just make it harder for patients to book an appointment when they need one? It’s not simply about hours on a clock, it’s about rethinking how we deliver care, protect clinician wellbeing and prepare for the future of healthcare.

The four-day work week is no longer just an idea. It’s actually being promoted as the future of workplaces around the world, with trials popping up in many different countries. Take Iceland, for example. Their large-scale trial a few years ago showed that when workers shifted to four days instead of five, productivity stayed the same (and sometimes even improved), while stress and burnout levels dropped. The UK recently wrapped up the world’s biggest trial, with over 60 companies taking part. Again, the majority reported that staff were happier, healthier and just as effective at their jobs, with many organisations deciding to stick with the model permanently. Belgium has also made headlines by giving employees the legal right to request a four-day work week.

The message seems clear: fewer hours at work don’t necessarily mean less output. In fact, when people feel rested and valued, they often bring more focus and energy to the job. But while this model might suit office workers or tech companies, it gets trickier when we think about professions like healthcare, where patients can’t simply be “put on hold” until next week.

Patients need ongoing care, and that makes experimenting with shorter working weeks more complicated. Still, a few healthcare providers have dipped their toes into the four-day work week.

Across the Atlantic, a handful of hospitals in the United States have tried flexible shift models. Nurses and allied health professionals who moved to four-day rosters often found the longer rest periods invaluable for recovery from demanding work. Yet, managers had to carefully balance rosters to make sure wards weren’t left short-staffed.

The challenge isn’t whether staff benefit from shorter working weeks; it’s clear they do. It’s how to deliver the same level of care when there are fewer days in the calendar to squeeze patients in. For physiotherapists, this balance is especially important, given the need for consistent treatment plans and ongoing patient progress.

Here in Australia, physiotherapists are facing very real pressures. Long waiting lists, staff shortages, and an ever-growing demand for services mean many physios are stretched thin. Private practices, in particular, often rely on busy appointment books to stay financially sustainable. For many physios, that means packed days with little room to breathe, let alone rethink their weekly workload. Meanwhile, public health services are under constant pressure to meet demand with limited resources, making it difficult to experiment with reduced hours or flexible models.

So, could a four-day work week work here? For starters, it might be a game-changer when it comes to keeping physios in the profession. Burnout is one of the biggest reasons clinicians step back or leave altogether, and giving staff more time to rest and reset could help reduce that. There’s also the potential for recruitment. Imagine being a new graduate, weighing up career options and seeing that a clinic offers a four-day work week. In a profession where work-life balance can feel elusive, that’s a very appealing offer.

Of course, it’s not all smooth sailing. The biggest challenge is access. If a clinic suddenly reduces the number of days physios are available, patients may struggle to secure appointments, especially those with intensive treatment plans that require regular sessions. For people recovering from surgery or managing chronic pain, a week can feel like a very long time to wait.

Another concern is whether the workload would genuinely decrease, or just become more concentrated. If physios end up cramming five days’ worth of patients into four longer days, the risk is that fatigue shifts rather than disappears.

A four-day week might be the headline act, but it’s not the only way to rethink how physiotherapists work. Flexibility can take many forms. Job sharing is one option, where two physios split the load of one full-time role. This can open the door for parents returning to work or clinicians who want to keep practising while pursuing other commitments.

Staggered shifts are another approach, with physios starting and finishing at different times so patients still have access across the full week, without staff being locked into rigid 9–5 schedules. Then there’s the rise of hybrid care. Telehealth rose during the pandemic and continues to offer a way of checking in with patients, managing progress, and reducing unnecessary clinic visits. Blending in-person sessions with video consultations could give physios more control over their workloads, while still keeping continuity of care front and centre.

So, where does that leave physiotherapy? The four-day work week is an exciting idea, but it’s unlikely to be a one-size-fits-all solution. The challenge now is to explore these options while keeping both clinicians and patients at the heart of the conversation.