In the biggest trial of its kind, 4 Day Week Global is coordinating a six month trial of the four day work week in partnership with the UK think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign, and researchers at Cambridge University, Boston College and Oxford University.
Starting in June, companies participating in the trial allowed their staff, some 3,000 workers across 60 companies, to work four days a week on their full time salary, with no loss in pay.
The goal was to establish whether employees can still be productive on fewer hours but with the same pay. It’s been called the 100:80:100 model – 100% of the pay for 80% of the time, while maintaining 100% productivity.
A wide range of businesses and charities registered to take part, including:
- The Royal Society of Biology
- Brewing company Pressure Drop
- A Manchester-based medical devices firm
- A fish and chip shop in Norfolk
What is a four day week?
There are different ways to structure the four day week, but typically it means a 32 hour (or less) week at full time pay. This distinguishes it from ‘compressed hours’ where employees work the same number of full time hours over fewer days.
Why was it being trialled?
Those in favour of the four day work week argue that it has many benefits, citing better work life balance, reduced sickness absence and improved retention, innovation and recruitment. 4 Day Week Global states that “63% of businesses found it easier to attract and retain talent with a four day work week”.
However, those against the four day work week argue that the costs outweigh the benefits. They say that the scheduling challenges and added stress of coordinating teams, workloads and workflows undermine any productivity gains.
The model is gaining in popularity and there have been numerous trials around the world over the last few years, but the UK trial is the biggest to date.
Charting the rise of the four day work week
Reducing work hours to increase productivity is not a new concept. Over the years, we’ve seen a few global shifts in how the work day and work week are configured.
It’s where the May Day Holiday in the US comes from. While in the UK May Day is a public holiday which celebrates the first day of summer, in the US it is recognised as International Labor Day, honouring the movement in the 1880s to demand an eight hour work day.
In the 1920s, Henry Ford reduced his staff work week from six days to five days at the same pay, in the belief that it would boost staff morale and therefore productivity. It worked, and the five day work week became a norm.
In the 1950s, labour unions called for the work week to be further reduced to four days, but this has not yet taken off, despite trials consistently yielding positive results.
A four year study carried out in Iceland between 2014 to 2019 was declared an ‘overwhelming success’ and now 86% of the country’s workforce are working shorter hours (or at least have the right to reduce their hours).
There have also been some high profile adoptions in the UK. In November, Atom Bank became our largest four day week employer with 430 staff and no reduction in pay.
The issue is that transitioning to a four day work week requires a huge cultural and mindset shift, plus a lot of planning – perhaps this is why companies have been slow to adopt. A study by Gallup in 2020 of more than 10,000 US full time employees showed only 5% worked a shorter week.
What are the benefits of a four day work week?
Advocates for the four day week believe it is good for corporate image, thus giving employers a competitive advantage. The 4 Day Week Campaign says that it “is a great way to create a brand that shows your customers that you are a forward-thinking, ethical and socially responsible company”.
And there are possible environmental benefits too. A recent UK study found that a shift to a four day week by 2025 would reduce UK carbon emissions by reducing energy consumption in office buildings, and reducing both commutes and car usage.
US-based Wanderlust moved to a four day work week, rethinking and streamlining business processes, including having fewer meetings and embracing a more creative approach to work. CEO Mike Melillo reported not just an increase in productivity, but a 99% year-over-year growth in annual recurring revenue, and 90% year-over-year growth in gross merchandise volume.
Uncharted, a bank based in Denver, transitioned to the four day work week. Co-founder and CEO Benitez reported his employees were happier, and there was a reduction in work stress and staff burnout.
Does it improve work life balance?
Gallup finds both positive and negative impacts of working a shorter week.
While some companies report improvements in employee wellbeing, active disengagement can worsen. Those workers who already feel disconnected are at risk of drifting further away when working less.
The ‘overwork pandemic’ was another unfortunate consequence of Covid-19 as boundaries between work and home life became blurred. Remote work employees often report feeling disconnected from their teams and around 22% report that unplugging after work is a serious challenge. Reducing the number of working days to four may place even more stress on already overburdened workers as they attempt to manage their workload, but in less time.
And the logistics of implementing a four day work week can be extremely challenging. Even in five days it can be difficult to coordinate teams, and reducing the time available to work together can introduce a whole new dimension of stress. While working asynchronously can be great for productivity, as workers narrow their focus to deliver their workloads in shorter timeframes, it can all too easily douse “the spark of collaboration” and undermine team spirit.
The results are in – what have we learned?
Over 70 organisations signed up for the six month trial. At the halfway mark, 4 Day Week Global ran a check-in survey to gauge how it was going. Of the 41 that responded, 88% said the new schedule was working “well” for business so far, 95% said productivity had either been maintained or improved, and 86% said they’d be “likely” or “extremely likely” to consider keeping a four day work week after the trial ends.
Claire Daniels, CEO at Trio Media, says, “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.”
Regarding the transition to a four day week (with 5 being ‘extremely smooth’ and ‘1’ being ‘extremely challenging’), 29% of respondents selected ‘5’, 49% selected ‘4’ and 20% selected ‘3’.
Sharon Platts, Chief People Officer for Outcomes First Group, says, “The four day week [pilot] has been transformational for us so far. We’ve been delighted to see productivity and output increase and have also been able to make it work in our education and care services, which we thought would be far more challenging. While it’s still early days, our confidence in continuing beyond the trial is growing and the impact on colleague wellbeing has been palpable.”
An anonymous respondent said, “Radically rethinking the real value of everything you do as a business is never going to be seamless. To just try and cram the same work into shorter hours completely misunderstands the problem we are seeking to fix. The four day week pilot has already shown us that there are things we could have implemented years ago which would have improved our productivity and offered increased value for the organisations we work with.”
Now that the trial has finished and the results have been published, it’s fair to say that it was a success:
- When asked to rank their feedback on a scale of 0-10, from very negative to very positive, the trial scored an average rating of 9 out of 10.
- Revenue increased for the trial period by an average of 8.14%.
- The overwhelming majority of participants are considering retaining the four day work week structure – 18 are definitely continuing, 7 are planning to continue but haven’t made a final decision yet, 1 is leaning toward continuing and 1 is not yet sure. None are leaning against or not planning on continuing.
And on the employee side, the trial was also very successful. The average overall experience of the trial was 9.1 and virtually all (96.9%) of the employees want to continue the trial. A wide range of wellbeing metrics showed significant improvement from the beginning to the end of the trial. Stress, burnout, fatigue and work-family conflict all declined, while physical and mental health, positive affect, work-family and work-life balance, and satisfaction across multiple domains of life increased.
You can find out more about 4 Day Week Global and the pilot at www.4dayweek.com
Our take on the trial
This is certainly a time of pivotal change in the workplace. Hybrid and flexible models offered to workers as a result of the pandemic have proved popular and we know they are here to stay in one form or another.
Our Employee Retention report revealed that 28% of job seekers are looking for flexible working, while a recent study by Future Forum found that 95% of respondents wanted flexible hours, compared with 78% of workers who sought flexibility over location.
The companies embracing this are in a good position. Because as Gallup points out, the problem isn’t necessarily the number of days we are working. It’s the workplace.
Fix the work experience, and employers could triple the positive influence on employees’ lives compared with shortening their workweek.
The message is pretty clear.
We need to reimagine workplace norms across the board.
In the meantime, check out our Guide To Flexible Work and join us on our mission to make employment easy (and flexible).
