A worker pours a pint of beer at a Depressurized Brewery in London, one of 61 UK employers who took part in a six-month trial with a four-day work week.
Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images
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A worker pours a pint of beer at a Depressurized Brewery in London, one of 61 UK employers who took part in a six-month trial with a four-day work week.
Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images
Is it finally time for the four-day workweek?
Result from a new pilot program at dozens of UK employers that has shown huge benefits to workers’ health and productivity when their hours are reduced — and the vast majority Some companies plan to adhere to a tight schedule.
Proponents say the results help validate the idea that companies can shorten the workweek to 32 hours without a pay cut while maintaining previous levels of work output.
David Frayne, a research associate at Cambridge University who worked on the trial: “We feel really encouraged by the results showing the many ways in which companies have turned the four-day week from a dream dream into a realistic policy, with many benefits.” , speak in a statement.
Frayne added: “We think there’s a lot here that should push other companies and industries to try.
The pilot program is a partnership between the non-profit 4 Day Week Global, the UK 4 Days Week Campaign and the consultancy Autonomy.
It includes about 2,900 workers aged 61 companies – from nonprofits, manufacturers and financial companies to even fish and chip shops – and operated from June to December of last year.
Workers and companies both report improvements
While more than half of companies reported shifting all their workers to the four-day workweek, employers were only required to reduce their employees’ hours “significantly”, which also may include a five-day workweek with shorter workdays or variable schedules. lasts from week to week but averages up to 32 hours per week over the course of a year.
For the most part, workers self-approval. Employees report less work-related stress, lower burnout rates, and higher job satisfaction. Most employees report working at a faster pace.
There are physical and mental health benefits – 46% of employees said they were less tired – and 3 out of 5 respondents said it’s easier to balance work with caregiving responsibilities at home .
“The results were largely consistent across workplaces of different sizes, proving this is an innovation that works for many types of organisations,” speak Juliet Schor, a professor at Boston University and the project’s principal investigator.
The researchers found that how employees spend their free time varies according to the type of work they perform. Schor said people working in nonprofits and professional services spend more time exercising, while those in construction and manufacturing reported seeing a decrease. greatest decline in burnout and sleep problems.
The results also appear positive from the company’s perspective.
Revenue increased by an average of 1.4% during the study period, according to data from 23 providers. The authors note that absenteeism has decreased and people are less likely to give up during the trial, even though it took place during what has been dubbed the Great Resignation.
Of the 61 companies participating in the trial, 56 said they would continues to offer the four-day workweek for now. Eighteen said they plan to shorten the workweek permanently.
Among them is Tyler Grange, an environmental consulting firm based in the UK. CEO Simon Ursell told NPR that the company has invested in technology and stopped performing some “junk daily” administrative tasks to reduce the required weekly workload to four days instead of five. day.
“If you’re encouraging people to do something – say, a really interesting motive, and it’s an incentive that can’t be bought with money, give them all day a week for the same pay to do the same things. what they want – that really focuses the mind,” he said.
Ursell agrees that a rigorous four-day workweek may not suit every company’s needs, but he urges managers to rethink what it takes to get the job done.
“I think the real question is: Why five days? I’ve never heard anyone give a reason why we work five days differently from the traditional one,” he said. “I think the test has proven that working in the way that works best for your organization to get the best performance score, the best productivity at the time, that’s what I’m aiming for.”
4 Day Week previously conducted similar tests in the US and Ireland, and said it would also release test results in Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, North America and elsewhere in Asia Europe.
