At the halfway point of the largest four-day working week trial ever run, the UK businesses taking part are reporting “a general tenor of positive experiences”.
In June of this year, more than 3,000 people working for 70 organisations agreed to work a shorter week (80% of the week) for six months with no loss of pay but with the commitment to maintain 100% productivity. The trial is being run by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with leading think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign and researchers at Cambridge University, Boston College and Oxford University. Globally, small companies through to large corporates - spanning a multitude of sectors - have taken part, with pilot programmes rolling out in North America, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand in 2022.
The researchers will analyse how employees respond to having the extra day off, in terms of productivity, performance, stress and burnout.
CEO of 4 Day Week Global, Joe O’Connor said:
“The organisations in the United Kingdom pilot are contributing real-time data and knowledge that are worth their weight in gold. Essentially, they are laying the foundation for the future of work by putting a four-day week into practice, across every size of business and nearly every sector, and telling us exactly what they are finding as they go.”
Whilst some of the participating firms initially reported concerns, finding implementing the scheme “challenging” and questioning whether this was a long-term prospect, a check-in survey taken at the half way point have found that for 88% of respondents, the four-day week is working ‘well’ for their business at this stage in the trial.
Even more positively, 46% of respondents say their business productivity has ‘maintained around the same level’, while 34% report that it has ‘improved slightly’, and 15% say it has ‘improved significantly. Hugely positive is the fact that 86% of respondents stated that at this juncture in the trial, they would be ‘extremely likely’ and or ‘likely’ to consider retaining the four-day week policy after the trial period.
Claire Daniels - Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Trio Media - was initially cautious, feeling that the shorter week had caused problems with hiring. She stated:
“The only challenge is in recruitment currently as we cannot guarantee that we will continue the four-day week pilot scheme.”
However, at the half-way point she commented:
"The four-day week trial so far has been extremely successful for us. Productivity has remained high, with an increase in wellness for the team, along with our business performing 44% better financially."
Founders, employers and employees can find out more about the 4 Day Week and the pilot program at www.4dayweek.com
