Four-day workweek: Firms in UK make the move permanent after world’s biggest trial
The COVID-19 pandemic ignited discussions and trials across Europe around a four-day workweek.
By Pascale Davies
Published on 22/02/2024 – 11:50•Updated 13:26
Share this article
Comments
A UK study shows work intensity remains lower and job satisfaction is higher during a four-day workweek.
The majority of companies in the United Kingdom that took part in the world’s largest study trialling a four-day workweek have made the policy permanent, with 100 per cent of managers and CEOs saying it had a “positive” impact on the organisation.
Some 61 organisations took part in the six-month pilot in 2022. The trial results were announced on Thursday with 89 per cent of companies still using the four-day workweek a year later and over half of the firms making the change permanent.
The study also showed that work intensity remains lower and job satisfaction is higher than before the pilot began with almost all the employees (96 per cent) saying their personal life had benefited, and 86 per cent said they felt they performed better at work.
The COVID-19 pandemic ignited discussions and trials across Europe around a four-day workweek, with employees and employers rethinking the importance of workplace flexibility and benefits.
It would mean employees working four days a week instead of five, getting paid the same, and being entitled to the same benefits but with the same workload.
The UK study found that companies reduced working hours by an average of 6.6 hours, leading to a 31.6-hour week. It also found that full days off, rather than being “on call” were more effective.
“Physical and mental health and work-life balance are significantly better than at six months. Burnout and life satisfaction improvements held steady,” said one of the report’s authors, Juliet Schor, who is a professor of sociology at Boston College.
Germany launches major 4-day workweek trial amid labour shortage
Getting the workday balance just right: How to find your ‘Goldilocks Zone’ at work
Trade unions across Europe are calling for governments to implement the four-day workweek. But so far governments are hesitant to officially adopt a four-day working week.
In February 2022, Belgian employees won the right to perform a full work week in four days instead of the usual five without loss of salary.
The new law came into force a year earlier, allowing employees to decide whether to work four or five days a week.
But this does not mean they will be working less – they will simply condense their working hours into fewer days.
The country’s seven-party federal coalition agreement has set a goal for an employment rate of 80 per cent by 2030, an objective that would serve to keep its legal pensions affordable or finance future tax cuts.
Meanwhile this month in Scotland, the government launched a four-day working week trial for some public services.
