A Resounding Success: 92% of Participant Businesses Continue with Four-Day Work Week

A six-month trial of a four-day working week involving 61 UK companies and 2,900 employees has been hailed as a "resounding success".

Running from June to December 2022, the trial involved a range of industries and company sizes and saw a variety of four-day week structures tested, from classic "Friday off" models to "conditional" structures.

The trial, which to date is the largest of its kind, led to 92% of the participant businesses continuing a 4-day work week. 18 of these (29.5%) have confirmed they have implemented the 4-day policy as a permanent change.

Businesses involved in the trial went through 2 months of preparation, with workshops, coaching, mentoring, and peer support.

Despite concerns that a four-day working week may not work for all industries, the trial showed that tailored policies can work across a range of industries, departmental structures, and work cultures.

For some employees, the benefits of a four-day week were so significant that no amount of money could entice them back to a five-day schedule.

The Findings

The results of the trial were recently published and revealed some interesting insights. Some of the common things reported by workers included:

• Reduced levels of stress or anxiety

• Less fatigue and better sleep

• Improved mental and physical health

But it wasn’t just employees that found benefits. Employers reported that they experienced:

• 67% reduction in staff absences

• 57% reduction in staff turnover

• Revenue increased up to 35% compared to equivalent periods

Juliet Schor one of the researchers behind the trial admitted that although there were favourable results, some information vital to employers could not be measured. Discussing the research, he said:

"We don't have a firm handle on exactly what happened to productivity … But we do know that on a variety of other metrics, whether we're talking about revenue, [workforce] attrition, self-reports of productivity, employee well-being and costs, we had really good results."

Lost productivity is a legitimate concern for businesses. Particularly considering the current cost of living crisis. This is one of the reasons why, Belgium, which has introduced an optional 4-day working week, still expects employees to work the same number of hours.

The new law gives workers in the country the choice of working nine and a half hours a day over four days, or eight hours a day over five days. This is different from the majority of trials in the UK and US, where 20% fewer hours are worked.

Both supporters and detractors of the 4-day week have criticised the Belgian government. Those against, believe it will cause organisational challenges. Those for, believe it goes against the fundamental premise of the 4-day week; working less hours.

The Evolution of the Working Week

Whatever your opinion on a 4-day work week is, based on historical evidence, it seems inevitable. Working hours across Europe have been consistently declining over the past 150 years.

According to Our World in Data, UK workers in 1870 averaged around 2750 working hours each year. This made their normal working week between 50-60 hours. But thanks to technological innovation, the vast majority of people in the UK now only work between 35-45 hours each week.

And we’re the outlier in Europe. UK workers put in more hours than any other European nation. But these extra hours don’t equal higher productivity. The UK has consistently ranked poorly compared to our neighbours, despite all of them working fewer hours.

For example, Ireland places top of the productivity rankings in terms of GDP per working hour. Their average working week comes in at around 32 hours.

Even though there is a huge body of evidence to suggest fewer hours don’t negatively impact productivity, successive UK Governments have chosen to ignore this fact.

But with the hype over ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools gaining momentum, it seems likely that we are on the cusp of another technological revolution. Could the productivity gain through the use of AI actually mean a 4-day work week is more than enough?

Is it the future of work for you?

If you’re looking for a role at a company that has adopted a 4-day working week, there’s now a dedicated job platform for just that. 4dayweek.io/ is dedicated to listing roles available in businesses where you only need to work 4 days each week.

At the time of writing, there are nearly 300 available roles. But if you’re interested, you need to act fast. Nearly every firm that has adopted a 4-day week has seen their job applications jump exponentially.