Lucas Merklinghaus manages the warehouse for Bellingham's Brist Manufacturing. He knows time is money, but to him, time with his wife and kids is much more valuable. "I've got two little boys, 1-and-a-half and 4. That family time is really precious," Merklinghaus says. So, when workers needed a morale boost, a year into the pandemic, someone suggested moving to a four-day workweek. Owner Brendan Pape was reluctant. "I couldn't see how it could work," Pape says. "This doesn't pencil out. No way." But Pape eventually agreed -- switching his 50 employees to a work week of four 10-hour days. The experiment was supposed to last six weeks. That was two years ago. "I think at that six week mark we didn't even really circle back because things were working," says Pape. "We were able to maintain numbers and output. Everything was great." Under the four-day plan, Brist saw growth increase by 35%, and employee happiness go off the charts. That falls in line with a a trend seen around the world. In the first large scale study of the four-day workweek, the nonprofit 4 Day Week Global partnered with Harvard Business School, Oxford University and the University of Pennsylvania. READ THE FULL STORY: https://www.king5.com/article/money/business/bellingham-4-day-work-week/281-66892450-8bec-44e3-a2cc-f0274986102e