# The four-day workweek is dead. Now it's six.

> Owl Labs' latest survey shows workers have abandoned the four-day dream and stretched their weeks across six days instead, with strategic office visits and Sunday work becoming the norm.
- Title: The four-day workweek is dead. Now it's six. · Fortune
- Summary: Owl Labs' latest survey shows workers have abandoned the four-day dream and stretched their weeks across six days instead, with strategic office visits and…
- Keywords: owl labs, hybrid work, four-day workweek, remote work, coffee badging, billboard days, career minimalism, job hugging, ai productivity, four-day, workweek, dead
- Source: Fortune — https://fortune.com/2026/09/22/4-day-workweek-remote-coffee-badging
- Author: Nick Lichtenberg
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: owl labs, hybrid work, four-day workweek, remote work, coffee badging, billboard days, career minimalism, job hugging, ai productivity
## The four-day dream is over
Frank Weishaupt, CEO of Boston-based video-conferencing company Owl Labs, says the four-day workweek conversation has completely shifted. Workers have stopped pursuing it as an endpoint.

> We have completely shifted away from a conversation about the four-day workweek
## Work now stretches across six days
Instead of compressing hours into fewer days, workers have stretched their weeks into a sixth day, breaking work into non-linear blocks around parenting, energy levels, and personal errands.
## Three-quarters work on Sundays
Seventy-four percent of employees say they do some kind of work on a typical Sunday, and twenty-one percent call it a full or near-full workday, according to Owl Labs' report.
## Coffee badging becomes billboard days
Owl Labs popularized coffee badging, the practice of badging into the office just long enough for a cup of coffee and face time with your boss before heading home around three pm.
## Nearly half strategically time office days
Forty-eight percent of workers say they've picked specific in-office days deliberately to be seen by senior leaders or clients, or plan to start. Forty percent of billboard-day participants are managers.
## Leadership oversight drives return-to-office
Seventy-six percent of employees say the real driver of return-to-office policies is leadership oversight, not productivity, collaboration, client service, or culture. Employees have concluded showing up is mostly theater.
## Career minimalism and job hugging spread
Fifty-three percent of employees say they've adopted or plan to adopt career minimalism, deliberately scaling back ambition to protect health. Thirty-eight percent are holding onto roles they've outgrown because leaving feels riskier.
## AI creates a trade-off period
Sixty-nine percent of workers say AI has made them more productive, while forty-six percent say it's hindered them at times. Weishaupt sees a trade-off period where AI adoption creates mixed effects on productivity and presence.
## Key takeaway

Workers have stopped pursuing four-day workweeks and now work across six days in fragmented blocks, with three-quarters doing Sunday work and nearly half strategically timing office visits to be seen by senior leaders.