The results from a recent six-month trial give the four-day working week model its much-needed legitimacy. The key takeaway is that, once the trial was complete, the majority of employers were keen to keep the new model. Although widespread adoption still has a long way to go, many companies will increasingly look at models like this to introduce more flexibility to the workplace and retain staff.
What do the results show?
The four-day working week is intended to support a positive work-life balance, giving employees more leisure time without paying them any less. In June 2022, more than 3,000 workers at 70 UK companies began the world’s biggest four-day week trial, organised by campaign group 4 Day Week Global, think-tank Autonomy, and researchers at Boston College and the universities of Cambridge and Oxford.
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The results published this month make a strong case for adopting a shorter working week: most of the participants—among both employers and employees—liked the new model so much that they have decided to keep it in place. Of the 61 companies that participated in the pilot, 18 have said they would maintain it permanently, while 38 have extended the trial. 15% of employees who participated said that ‘no amount of money would convince them to go back to working five days a week’.
The findings will be presented to MPs on Tuesday 8 February, as part of a push urging politicians to give all workers in Britain a 32-hour week.
What do the sceptics say?
A common argument against the trial is that the companies taking part in it chose to participate because they thought they were well suited to the pilot, given the nature of their business. This meant that staff dropouts were less likely. Another argument is that there is a possibility that productivity levels go down, as once the four-day week is made permanent, employees would not have the same incentive to be productive. This would explain the fact that 38 companies stated they were going to continue the trial, rather than maintain it on a permanent basis.
However, even after considering these arguments, the evidence still appears overwhelming. This is especially true when it comes to employees’ wellbeing. ‘Before and after’ data from the trial shows that 39% of employees were less stressed, and 71% had reduced levels of burnout by its end. Likewise, levels of anxiety, fatigue, and sleep issues decreased, while mental and physical health both improved.
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By GlobalDataIn the end, only time and more widespread adoption will show whether productivity remains the same when this model is made permanent.
Not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution
To participate in the pilot, companies were not required to rigidly deploy one particular type of working time reduction or the same kind of four-day week. Each company designed a policy tailored to its particular industry, organisational challenges, departmental structures, and work culture.
A range of four-day weeks was developed, from the classic ‘Friday off’ models, to ‘staggered’, ‘decentralised’, ‘annualised’, and ‘conditional’ structures. This allowed for more flexibility for companies, which included a range of different-sized organisations from diverse sectors. Overall, the results make clear that the four-day week is here to stay and is ready to be deployed on a wider scale.
Those companies that want to move to shorter working hours now have access to data and best practices from a growing base of organisations that have adopted different models and built up a toolkit for others to look at.
