As we highlighted in a previous article, a 6 month trial on the four day working week was launched on the 6th June 2022 by the campaign group, 4 Day Week Global, which is being run in conjunction with Oxford and Cambridge academics and others. We now look at the evidence that has emerged thus far as to the success or otherwise of the four day working week experiment
Four Day Working Week Trial
70 companies comprising of over 3300 employees are participating in the 6 month trial of the four day working week. Employees of the participating employers will be working a four day working week without the loss of any pay, with the aim of determining whether the four day working week yields an increase in productivity, as well as improvements in health, wellbeing, work life balance, and staff retention.
The trial is the largest ever of its type, the previous biggest being one conducted in Iceland involving 2500 workers. The Scottish Government will also be conducting a £10 million pilot scheme, with Spain already having launched its own 3 year trial in early 2021.
The 6 month trial is based on what is known as the 100:80:100 model, in which employers pay their employees their full pay (i.e. 100%) despite only working 80% of the normal working week (i.e. a 4 day working week, instead of 5). In exchange, the employee looks to deliver 100% productivity (i.e. produce what they had been doing in 5 days, in 4 days).
Up until 1926, a 6 day working week (i.e. Monday – Saturday) was the norm. It was only on the 1st May 1926 when the Ford Motor Company adopted a 5 day 40 hour working week that the 5 day working week became the widely accepted approach. Ford’s objective in shortening the working week was to increase productivity, and it worked. That is the goal behind the four day working week trial
The Evidence Thus Far
At the halfway point of the 6 month trial of the four day working week in September 2022, 4 Day Week Global sent the 70 participating employers a survey to complete on how the trial was panning out thus far.
41 of the 70 participating employers responded to the survey and according to 4 Day Week Global:-
- 88% of the respondents stated that the trial had gone "well"
- 95% of the employers reported that productivity had either improved or remained the same, with 15% stating that productivity had "improved significantly" and 34% reporting that it had "improved slightly"
- In terms of the transition to a four day working week on a scale of 1 to 5, in which 1 signified "extremely challenging" and 5 "extremely smooth", 98% of the respondents rated the transition between 3 - 5, with 29% providing a rating of 5 and 49% a 4
- 86% of the employers stated that they were either "extremely likely" or "likely" to continue to allow their employees to work a four day working week following the conclusion of the of the 6 month trial
Reaction
Commenting upon the findings at the halfway point, the CEO of 4 Day Week Global, Joe O’Connor, stated: "The organisations in the United Kingdom pilot are contributing real-time data and knowledge that are worth their weight in gold. Essentially, they are laying the foundation for the future of work by putting a four-day week into practice, across every size of business and nearly every sector, and telling us exactly what they are finding as they go."
O'Connor added: "We are learning that for many it is a fairly smooth transition and for some there are some understandable hurdles – especially among those which have comparatively fixed or inflexible practices, systems, or cultures which date back well into the last century. While for most organisations the pilot prompts many pleasing discoveries and outcomes.....there is friction for others, and this can be based on a variety of factors, many of which can be addressed or substantially improved in the pilot itself."
Permanent Move To A Four Day Working Week
It was recently reported that around 100 employers, employing around 2600 staff, within the UK would be shifting to a permanent four day working week. Two of the companies who will be making the shift are Atom Bank and Awin, both of whom employ around 450 staff each in the UK.
Scepticism
Nevertheless, there is considerable scepticism about the viability of a four day working week amongst some.
Mark Chaffey, the CEO of the private tech job marketplace, hackajob, points out for instrance that: "I find it perplexing that the confinement of a one-size-fits-all working pattern - which, by the way, is exactly what the four-day week is – is gaining so much hype....Unfortunately, beyond the headlines is a flawed concept which, at best, won’t deliver what you want it to – and at worst, could spell the downfall of your business....The idea of the four-day week is to compress five days of work into four days...[But] compressing work in such a tidy fashion is a luxury only possible for a few. You won’t see bus drivers, hospital staff or care workers benefiting from this movement."
Chaffey adds: "Even those with job roles that could allow a four-day week pattern will often find they can’t simply compress their hours into four longer days, week in, week out....Inevitably a divide will appear between those that do have adaptable lives and can have an extra day off each week, and those that don’t...[Moreover,] unless you manage to sync up working days with every other business you work with, you’ll end up with work still coming in on that fifth day. And what’s meant to happen to it?....flexibility is the number-one benefit that employees want - instead of a rigid four-day week."
