A switch to a six-hour work day is gaining popularity in Sweden, where a desire to have happier, healthier staff is matched by evidence of increased profits from shorter, but more productive, work days.

Going against the traditional eight hour workday has been present in Sweden in pockets for some time, and in February a Gothenburg council operated elderly care home began an experiment that would see some staff begin working six-hour days. The experiment has attracted a lot of political attention, with the results to be compared against a care home still working the eight hours to gauge the scheme's effectiveness.

More and more private businesses hare also adopting the six hour day, and advocating for the schedule based on benefits they have reaped.

While the move at the Svartedalens care home has cost the council more in staff costs, the consensus appears to be that it has resulted in better care and staff well-being.

Ann-Charlotte Dahlbom Larsson, head of elderly care at the home, says:

“Since the 1990s we have had more work and fewer people – we can’t do it anymore,” she told The Guardian.

“There is a lot of illness and depression among staff in the care sector because of exhaustion – the lack of balance between work and life is not good for anyone.”

Others have followed suit, including hospitals in Umea, north of Gothenburg, and a host of private businesses.

One private company using the system is app developer Filimundus, which switched last year. Their CEO Linus Feldt told Fast Company:

"I think the eight-hour work day is not as effective as one would think. To stay focused on a specific work task for eight hours is a huge challenge.

“In order to cope, we mix in things and pauses to make the work day more endurable. At the same time, we are having it hard to manage our private life outside of work.”

The key, Feldt says, is that shorter days encourage and allow more concentrated work, and by focusing more on work – and less on distractions, including meetings – productivity doesn’t have to drop.

"My impression now is that it is easier to focus more intensely on the work that needs to be done and you have the stamina to do it and still have energy left when leaving the office,” he said.

Feldt also reports a drop off in the number of staff conflicts as stress levels across the company are down.

The six hour day is not new to Sweden however, with Toyota’s plant in Gothenburg running a six hour day for 13 years.

Management were concerned with long waiting times and a high number of mistakes being made by a stressed staff. So they decided to change the seven am to four pm working day (nine hours) to two six-hour shifts, six am to noon, and noon to six pm.

Both shifts were on full pay, but would have fewer and shorter breaks for staff.

“Staff feel better, there is low turnover and it is easier to recruit new people.

“They have a shorter travel time to work, there is more efficient use of the machines and lower capital costs – everyone is happy,” says managing director Martin Banck.

Besides that, profits have risen by almost 25%.

A study published by medical journal The Lancet last month, covering 600,000 people, found that people who work a 55-hour week are 33% more likely to have a stroke than those on 35-40 hours.

In Ireland, we’re working more now than we did in 2009. The average working week for full-time employees in Ireland, according to the CSO, is 40.3 hours, which is 48 minutes above the corresponding 2009 figure. And that figure equates to an average working day of just over eight hours.

The eight hour working day was originally introduced by Henry Ford, who observed that his staff became less efficient as they worked longer hours, and so he decided eight hours a day and five days a week was the right way to maximise efficiency.

"We know from our experience in changing from six to five days and back again that we can get at least as great production in five days as we can in six," he said, in the 1920s.

The Svatedalens experiment will likely finish next year when the centre-left ruling party in Stockholm loses power. Previous experiment with the six-hour day - run int eh 80s and 90s by the left-leaning government - have been cut following changes to more conservative governments.