Dozens of British companies will stick to the 4-day workweek: NPR

A worker pours a pint of beer at London’s Pressur Drop Brewery, one of 61 UK employers who took part in a six-month experiment of a four-day work week.

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A worker pours a pint of beer at London’s Pressur Drop Brewery, one of 61 UK employers who took part in a six-month experiment of a four-day work week.

Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images

Is it finally time for the four-day work week?

results From a new pilot program in dozens of UK employers that showed significant benefits to workers’ health and productivity when their hours were reduced – the vast majority of companies plan to stick to the intensive schedule.

Advocates say the findings help validate the idea that it is possible for companies to shorten the workweek to 32 hours without any reduction in pay while maintaining previous levels of work output.

“We are really encouraged by the results, which show the many ways in which companies have turned the four-day week from dream into realpolitik, with multiple benefits,” David Frane, a research associate at the University of Cambridge who worked on the trial, said. in the current situation.

“We think there’s a lot here that should motivate other companies and industries to try it,” Frain added.

The pilot program was a collaboration between the non-profit organization 4 Day Week Global, the UK’s 4 Day Week Campaign, and the think tank Autonomy.

It included approximately 2,900 workers in 61 comp — from nonprofits, manufacturers, and financing companies to even a fish and chip shop — and it ran from June to December last year.

Workers and companies alike reported an improvement

While more than half of companies reported shifting all their workers to a four-day work week, employers were only required to give their employees a “meaningful” reduction in working hours, which could also include five-day weeks with shorter work days or varied schedules. in length from week to week but averaged 32 hours per week throughout the year.

To a large extent, the workers themselves agreed. Employees reported less work-related stress, lower rates of burnout and increased job satisfaction. The majority of employees report that they work at a faster pace.

There were physical and mental health benefits – 46% of employees said they were less stressed – and three in five participants said it was easier to balance work and caring responsibilities at home.

“The results are pretty consistent across workplaces of varying sizes, demonstrating that this is an innovation that works for many types of organizations.” He said Juliette Shore, Boston College professor and principal investigator on the project.

Researchers have found that how employees use their free time varies depending on the type of work they do. Those who worked in nonprofits and professional services spent more time exercising, Shore said, while those in construction and manufacturing saw the greatest reductions in fatigue and sleep problems.

The results were also positive from the corporate perspective.

Revenue increased an average of 1.4% over the study period, according to data from the 23 organizations that provided it. The authors note that absenteeism decreased, and people became less likely to quit during the trial, even though it occurred during what has been called the Great Resignation.

Of the 61 companies that participated in the trial, 56 said they would Continue to introduce the four-day work week for the time being. Eighteen said they intended to shorten the work week permanently.

Among them is Tyler Grange, an environmental consulting firm based in England. Managing Director Simon Ursell told NPR that the company has invested in technology and stopped doing the “daily rubbish” of some administrative tasks in order to squeeze the required weekly workload into four days instead of five.

“If you give people an incentive to do something — like a really cool incentive, and it was an incentive not to buy money, and give them a full day a week for the same pay to do what they want to do — that really focuses the mind.”

Ursell agreed that a strict four-day work week may not suit every company’s needs, but he urged managers to rethink what was necessary to get work done.

“I think the real question is, why five days? I haven’t heard anyone give me a reason for us to work five days apart from tradition,” he said. “What I think experience has shown is that working in a way that’s more workable for your organization to achieve the sweet spot of productivity, the best productivity at the time, that’s what you’ve been aiming for for me.”

4 Day Week has previously run similar trials in the US and Ireland and says it will also release results from pilots in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, North America and elsewhere in Europe.