More than 3,000 staff begin a four-day working week – on FULL pay – today in world’s biggest pilot scheme: London brewery, Southampton video games firm and Norfolk chippie are among 70 companies running six-month trial
- More than 3,000 workers across 70 companies are starting a four-day week trial
- Campaigners say move will improve work-life balance and boost productivity
- Businesses joining include fish and chip shop, brewery, medical and tech firms
- Staff will be given full pay for 80 per cent of their time and 100 per cent output
More than 3,000 workers across 70 companies are starting a four-day week today, on full pay, in the world’s biggest pilot scheme looking at productivity and staff wellbeing.
The programme is being coordinated by campaign group 4 Day Week Global, think tank Autonomy and academics at Oxford, Cambridge and Boston College in the US.
There are a range of businesses and charities taking part, including the Royal Society of Biology, hipster London brewery Pressure Drop, Southampton computer game developer Yo Telecom, a Manchester medical devices firm, and a fish and chip shop in Norfolk.
Staff will be given 100 per cent pay for 80 per cent of their time — but they have made a commitment to produce 100 per cent of their usual output.
Pressure Drop brewery in Tottenham, North London, is one of the businesses in the trial
The team of researchers will study each company and assess the impact on staff, including stress and burnout, job and life satisfaction, health, sleep, energy use, travel.
They will also look gender equality, with the four-day week thought to benefit women, who make up a higher proportion of part-time and flexible-hours staff.
However some critics say the concept would be impossible in customer facing jobs, or 24/7 operations including where overtime payments would present an extra cost to employers or the taxpayer.
A trial of the four-day working week in France, for example, found workers were putting in the same amount of hours even with a day fewer and companies were having to pay them for their extra time.
Some economists have argued that working fewer hours would decrease the standard of living and the leader of one of Spain’s main business associations has previously described it as ‘madness’.
Kirsty Wainwright, 34, the general manager at Norfolk fish and chip shop Platten’s said that long hours in the hospitality industry push up staff shortages.
The mother-of-two already works a four-day week and is confident the roll-out to all staff will be a success.
Kirsty Wainwright, 34, the general manager at Norfolk fish and chip shop Platten’s said that long hours in the hospitality industry push up staff shortages
Platten’s fish and chip shop in Wells-next-the-Sea, North Norfolk, is also taking part in the trial
‘The hospitality industry has really unsociable working hours and it needs to change,’ she said.
‘It’s not surprising the industry has been struggling with recruitment given the excessively long working hours.
‘On a five day week I didn’t get to see my kids enough. Spending more time with my kids is the best thing about a four-day week. It’s amazing.
‘Having that extra rest and not feeling exhausted means I can be more productive at work too.’
Wyatt Watts, 25, team leader at Platten’s, said that working in the hospitality industry can be ‘very strenuous.’
Wyatt Watts, 25, team leader at Platten’s said he thought trial sounded ‘too good to be true’
Luke Platten, the director of Platten’s, said that the decision aligns with company values to provide a ‘win-win’ for everyone
Prior to the Great Depression, the first example of a five-day week was seen in 1908.
A mill in New England, US, allowed a two-day weekend so that Jewish workers could observe the Sabbath on Saturdays. Sunday was already a work-free day due to its holy status in Christianity.
In 1926, carmaker Henry Ford gave his staff both days off, and created a 40-hour week for employees.
By 1932, the US had officially adopted the five-day week, to tackle unemployment created by the Great Depression.
The UK followed suit in 1933, when John Boot, from Boots corporation, closed factories on Saturdays and Sundays, and made it the company’s official policy the next year.
‘When I first heard we were going to be working less hours with the same pay I thought to myself what’s the catch, it sounds too good to be true,’ he said.
‘Morale has improved and we’re hoping that our productivity at work is going to be higher, meaning that stuff can get done quicker.
‘Having a four-day week has left me feeling a lot more positive about staying and working in the industry.’
Luke Platten, the company’s director, said that the decision aligns with company values to provide a ‘win-win’ for everyone.
Some experts have warned a productivity rise may not happen, with some critics saying that it will lead to more stress as employees attempt to squeeze more work into fewer hours, and leave firms with higher costs.
Tony Wilson, director for the Institute for Employment Studies said in an earlier interview that firms ‘will have to do a whole lot of other things to get productivity improvements’.
The pandemic has seen more employees working from home and adopting more flexible hours instead of the usual nine-to-five, five-day working week.
Joe O’Connor, the chief executive of 4 Day Week Global, said the country is at the crest of a wave of global momentum behind the four-day week.
‘As we emerge from the pandemic, more and more companies are recognising that the new frontier for competition is quality of life, and that reduced-hour, output-focused working is the vehicle to give them a competitive edge.
‘The impact of the “great resignation” is now proving that workers from a diverse range of industries can produce better outcomes while working shorter and smarter.’
Major companies that have tried out a four-day week but are not part of the trial include Unilever, Panasonic and Atom Bank —which was the biggest employer to make the change in November last year.
The Royal Society of Biology will also allow staff to work four days rather than the usual five
Mark Downs, CEO of the Royal Society of Biology, said he decided to take part in the trial to see if the change could help attract staff in an ‘incredibly competitive’ labour market.
His organisation will remain open five days a week, with staff either having the Monday or the Friday off.
Ed Siegel, CEO of Charity Bank, who are participating in the pilot, said that moving to a four-day week seems like a ‘natural step’.
‘We have long been a champion of flexible working, but the pandemic really moved the goalposts in this regard,’ he said.
‘The 20th-century concept of a five-day working week is no longer the best fit for 21st-century business.
Ed Siegel, CEO of Charity Bank, said that is is ‘proud’ that his firm is ‘one of the first banks in the UK to embrace the four-day week’
‘We firmly believe that a four-day week with no change to salary or benefits will create a happier workforce and will have an equally positive impact on business productivity, customer experience and our social mission.’
Mr Siegel said that is is ‘proud’ that his firm is ‘one of the first banks in the UK to embrace the four-day week’ and hopes it will put the company ‘on the right side of history’.
Similar experiments are due to be held in the USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, while Government-backed trials are starting in Spain and Scotland this week.
Several ‘influencer’ agencies are already operating a four-day working week, including Engage Hub, whose employees will have either a Wednesday or a Friday off, rotating every eight weeks.
In marketing, where jobs often offer higher salaries, workers deal with heavy workloads and competition, with many people working up to 60 hours a week.
Sam O’Brien, Chief Marketing Officer at performance marketing platform Affise, said: ‘Those working in marketing can have the stress of competitors and keeping up to date with the digital world, which has not been easy during the course of the pandemic.
‘The effects of the past two years have resulted in many extra hours spent isolated, at home, and looking at computer screens while sitting in uncomfortable chairs- extremely bad for both your mental health, vision and posture.’
The trial, led by 4 Day Week Global, will see staff members from different organisations completing the usual amount of work, and up to 35 hours each week, but split over four days rather than five. Pictured, Commuters in London
Pros and cons of a four-day week
Pros:
- Fewer distractions at work
- Longer hours does not mean more output
- Increased mental wellbeing and physical health
- Parents with children find themselves less stressed out
- Lowered carbon footprint
Cons:
- Not all industries can participate
- It might widen existing inequalities
- The cost risk for employers is expensive
- Workers may put in the same hours anyways
- Difficult team management
Source: Adecco Group
During the pandemic, it was believed that introducing a four-day working week would boost high street sales by an estimated £58billion, according to Affise.
This is because three-day weekends would give shoppers 20 per cent more time to buy, and see an expected spending increase related to hobbies, gardening and DIY.
Mr O’Brien added: ‘Starting a business takes a lot of time, energy, money, and creativity, and opting for a four-day week is one way many businesses choose to reduce expenses.’
In August 2019, Microsoft Japan implemented a four-day week giving their 2,300 employees five Fridays off in a row.
The company said productivity jumped 40 per cent, meetings were more efficient, and workers – who were also happier – took less time off.
Nine out of ten employees at the company said they preferred the shorter working week and other benefits, including a 23 per cent reduction in weekly electricity use, and a 59 per cent decrease in the number of pages printed by employees, which were also welcomed by employers.
Mr O’Connor said: ‘More and more businesses are moving to productivity focused strategies to enable them to reduce worker hours without reducing pay.
‘We are excited by the growing momentum and interest in our pilot program and in the four-day week more broadly.
‘The four-day week challenges the current model of work and helps companies move away from simply measuring how long people are ‘at work’, to a sharper focus on the output being produced. 2022 will be the year that heralds this bold new future of work.’
In Iceland, a four day working week trial was carried out between 2015 and 2019 and labelled an ‘overwhelming success’ by researchers.
Workplaces that took part, including at Reykjavík City Council which ran the trial, moved from 40 hour weeks to 36 or 35 hours with some reporting an improved level of productivity among employees.
The trial eventually involved more than 2,500 workers, equal to approximately 1 per cent of Iceland’s workforce.
The workplaces included preschools, offices, hospitals and social service providers.
Will Stronge, director of research at Autonomy, said: ‘This study shows that the world’s largest ever trial of a shorter working week in the public sector was by all measures an overwhelming success.
‘It shows that the public sector is ripe for being a pioneer of shorter working weeks – and lessons can be learned for other governments.’
The five-day week began in the UK in 1934, after John Boot, chairman of Boots the chemist adopted the change to reduce staff redundancies.
In the 19th century, people who worked in factories only had Sundays off.
Companies taking part that have agreed to be named publicly:
5 Squirrels – Healthcare
Adzooma – Tech
AKA Case Management – Domiciliary Care
Allcap Limited – Industrial & construction supplies
Amplitude – Creative Marketing Agency
Bedrock Learning – EdTech (Primary and Secondary Education)
Bookishly – Gift
Boom Studios – Creative & Cultural
Charity Bank – Financial Services (Banking)
Comcen – IT
Eurowagens – Automotive
Everledger – Technology
Evolution Money Limited – Financial Services
Future Talent Learning – Online Education
Girling Jones – Recruitment
Happy – Learning
Helping Hands – Housing/Health and Social Care
Hutch – Games
IE Brand – Digital & Branding
Literal Humans – Marketing / Advertising
Loud Mouth Media – Digital Marketing
Merthyr Valley Homes Limited – Housing
MOX – Advertising
NeatClean – Consumer Goods
Our Community – Technology & Training
Outcomes Based Healthcare – Healthcare
Outcomes First Group – Care and Education services
Platten’s Fish and Chips – Hospitality
Pressure Drop Brewing – Brewing / manufacturing
Rivelin Robotics – Software / Manufacturing
Royal Society of Biology – Charity
Salamandra.uk – Animation
Scotland’s International Development Alliance – Charity
Secure Digital Exchange Ltd – IT
Sensat – Software Start Up
Sounds Like These – Media
Stellar Asset Management – Financial Services
Stemettes – Charity
The Story Mob – Public Relations / Comms
Timberlake Consultants Ltd / TLKE Ltd – Software Training Consultancy
Trio Media – Digital Marketing
Tyler Grange – Environmental Consulting
Unity – Public Relations / Comms
Waterwise – Environmental campaigning organisation (not4profit)
We Are Purposeful – Not for profit
Yo Telecom – Telecommunications Southampton
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