Workers are feeling burnt out. So no wonder people got excited about a recent study from Britain claiming that companies that reduced weekly hours by 20 per cent (a four-day work week) had much happier employees without losing revenue. Absent a four-day week, more Americans appear to be choosing to downshift by deciding to work part-time, even if full-time work is available. This comes on top of the quiet-quitting and lying-flat trends.

It seems like the age of working less is upon us. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, Americans were putting in fewer hours. In fact, we have never spent so little time at work. So if we are burnt out, maybe work is not the problem.