Four-Day Work Week Shows Promising Results in UK Trial

Facts

• Following a trial of a four-day working week from June through December 2022, 56 of 61 companies in the UK have decided to continue with the practice. Eighteen of those have agreed to implement a four-day work week permanently.¹
• The trial — a collaboration project between the University of Cambridge, Boston College, and the 4 Day Week Global nonprofit community — has been billed as the largest of its kind. The study was also supported by Autonomy, a research group that focuses on the future of work.²
• Benefits reported by employees included 71% saying they felt less burnt out, 39% reporting lower stress levels, and 48% saying they were more satisfied with their jobs. Away from the office, 73% reported greater satisfaction with their lives, including better sleeping habits and mental health, as well as less fatigue.²
• Meanwhile, data from 23 of the participating organizations showed that revenue increased by 1.4% over the course of the trial.³
• Companies used different approaches to facilitate a four-day week without coming up shorthanded. A quarter divided employees into two teams, with one group off on Mondays and the other on Fridays. Another quarter of the companies took other steps to avoid too many common days off.⁴
• Nonprofit group 4 Day Week have said data from trials in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, North America, and other European countries will be released soon.⁵

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Associated Press, ³NPR Online News, ⁴Business Insider and ⁵FOX News.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Gizmodo. This is positive news for workers facing unmanageable stress and burnout, as well as for employers who are increasingly dealing with “quiet quitting.” In addition to workers being as, if not more productive, and feeling healthier in their everyday lives, the projected pitfall that employees would feel rushed to fit their work into a shorter week didn't materialize in the trial. These results reflect a significant step toward the four-day week taking prominence around the world.
• Narrative B, as provided by BBC News. Don’t celebrate this scheme just yet. There are still plenty of problems with shortening the work week, including the fundamental issue that five days’ worth of productivity must somehow be squeezed into four days for the same pay. Additionally, it should be noted that fewer than half of the companies submitted financial data following the trial, perhaps because a fuller picture may have revealed a negative result in terms of revenue and productivity. We’re a long way from a shorter working week becoming the international norm.