According to Essential Business, 11 companies decided to extend the pilot test within the same format and four decided to pull out and go back to a five-day working week. As for the others, they will use a mixed format to suit their own working models.

The four-day work week was designed to reduce the working week by 12 hours worth 28% of their salaries on average with staff not suffering salary cuts.

The four-day working week test pilot was coordinated by economist Pedro Gomes and researcher in human resources Rita Fontinha, with the test period running for six months between June and November 2023 without any salary reduction or financial support from the State. The pilot was voluntary and companies could pull out at any time.

The previous government promoted the project initially attracting the interest of 120 companies, however, only 41 companies signed up with 20 advancing but not at the same time.

The majority of the companies were small and operating in Lisbon and Porto (companies with 20 employees or less), in sectors such as education, health, industry, and consultancy; all were privately managed, but some were not-for-profit entities.

The Portugal News has followed suit offering workers a volunteering half day off a week and discretionary Friday afternoons off.