Iceland has emerged as a pioneer in work-life balance and economic innovation, outshining most of its European peers thanks to a bold experiment in reducing working hours to four days a week, without cutting pay.

As instructed by officials, a workday from now onwards would start at 8 AM and employees are expected to wrap up by 3 PM. As for banks, the timing shall be from 9 AM to 4 PM. 3 PM? I thought to myself, as I glanced at my calendar and realised, I was occupied by meetings only up until that time. A drastic change in such a short span of time will definitely hamper work schedules. Over time, we get accustomed to a certain working clock and organise our day accordingly. A sudden change may disrupt the work pace and alter our routine way of work to some extent. It is especially difficult for offices that are highly invested in international clients or counterparts to adjust.

The cabinet has rescheduled the office hour of government and autonomous institutions from 8am to 3pm to save electricity and reduce traffic jam.