Zoom's CEO Eric Yuan: AI Can Make 3-Day Weeks A Reality

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan predicts the standard five-day workweek could shrink to as few as three days as AI adoption accelerates across sectors.

His comments align with a growing sentiment across tech and finance, with leaders such as Jamie Dimon and Sam Altman contending that AI will streamline operations and lighten task loads.

“I hate working five days,” Yuan told The Wall Street Journal. “I’m pretty sure actually we really do not need to work for five days,” he said, adding that within the next half-decade the workweek could be reduced to three days.

Yuan emphasizes that working less won’t mean working faster; instead, employees will have digital assistance from AI agents. Over the next five years, he expects these agents to take on routine, repetitive tasks, allowing people to focus more on higher-value, human-centered work.

Advocacy for a reduced workweek

Calls to shorten working hours aren’t new, with prominent voices across generations advocating for a four-day workweek. Yuan also cites Henry Ford’s 1926 move to reduce the workweek from six to five days as precedent for step-change shifts in how work is organised.

“I do not think we need to work for five days because literally, we all employ so many digital agents,” he said, explaining that AI agents will be able to attend routine meetings, respond to standard emails, and manage schedules in an employee’s absence.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently echoed Yuan’s view in an interview with CBS, arguing that AI will not only compress the workweek but also enable better lives by easing the physical and mental demands of labour‑intensive work – an outlook with clear implications for workforce strategy, productivity and employee wellbeing.

“I believe that 30 years from now, your kids are probably working three and a half days a week,” Jamie Dimon said. “[AI] will eventually reduce the workweek in the developed world. People will live longer and safer.”

On 6 April, OpenAI released a 13-page paper arguing that superintelligence will incentivise companies to “retain, retrain and invest in workers,” and could support a four-day work week without a reduction in pay. The company also urged policymakers and employers to begin 32-hour work week pilots now to prepare for what it calls the “Intelligence Age.”

Improving work-life balance

A 2024 American Psychological Association survey found that 80% of workers believe they would be happier working four days instead of five. Yet while momentum is building among executives and employees, not every policy shift has delivered the hoped-for balance. Many organisations cite the “100-80-100” model – 100% pay for 80% time while maintaining 100% productivity – as the benchmark, underscoring the need for rigorous design, measurement and change management as leaders explore shorter weeks.

The proposal has drawn support from industry and political figures, including US Senator Bernie Sanders, and workers operating within such models report improvements in mental and physical health, along with reduced stress, fatigue, and work-life conflict.

Some organisations have adopted adjacent approaches with notable differences, such as compressing schedules into four 10-hour days. However, APA research indicates that policies extending the length of the workday can strain employee health, even when the total number of working days is reduced - an important distinction for leaders weighing design options.

In the same Wall Street Journal interview, Eric Yuan emphasised that fewer working days—when supported by the right policies and technology - need not diminish productivity or dampen the desire to work. “We can enjoy the beach time, but we want the kids to still find something new and exciting to work on,” he said.