From fish and chip shops to financial services firms — More than 3,000 workers at 60 companies took part
The idea of a four-day workweek has been gaining traction over the last few years, due to successful experiments across the UK, US, Japan, Sweden, and New Zealand.
Now the results of the world’s largest trial, organized by 4 Day Week Global, in partnership with the think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week Campaign, and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University, and Boston College, are in.
More than 3,000 workers at 60 UK companies, ranging from fish and chip shops to financial services firms took part in the trial over a period of six months.
The trial is based on the 100:80:100 model — 100% of pay for 80% of the time, in exchange for a commitment to maintaining 100% productivity.
The trial improved employee wellbeing, productivity and retention
The results of the trial paint a positive picture for employees. Surveys of staff taken before and after found that 39% said they were less stressed, 40% were sleeping better and 54% said it was easier to balance work and home responsibilities.
The number of sick days taken during the trial fell by about two-thirds and 57% fewer staff left the firms taking part compared with the same period a year earlier.
Most employees who experienced the four-day workweek didn’t want to go back: At the end of the six months, they were asked how much money they would have to receive from their next employer to return to a five-day week.
Nearly a third said they would require a 26- to 50-percent increase and 8 percent said they would want 50 percent higher pay.
How working less impacted business performance
When it comes to permanently adopting the four-day workweek, the concern among some business leaders is that reducing employee hours will negatively affect productivity. However, results from the trial showed that across all 60 companies productivity remained the same and that companies’ revenues either remained consistent or increased when compared to previous years.
Is the time for a four-day week right, given the post-pandemic economy?
Despite the growing body of positive evidence, critics of the four-day workweek still see the four-day week as a dangerous experiment given the state of the economy, which if made permanent, will lead to lower productivity and economic output. Ricardo Mur, from one of Spain’s leading business associations, described the idea as “madness”, in the wake of his country’s recession. “getting out of the crisis requires more work, not less.”
While it’s true that the global economy has deteriorated since the pandemic, I would argue that a move to a shorter working week could help support economic recovery, by preventing higher unemployment. The benefits of four-day working could be realized as the economy is unlocked. And if we had an extra day off a week, we would likely spend more money in our local economies — on leisure activities, groceries, and the odd latte.
From a productivity perspective, we know that working longer hours does not lead to higher levels of productivity. In a Stanford study, Professor John Pencavel proved that productivity per hour declines sharply when a person works more than 50 hours a week. After 55 hours, productivity drops so much that putting in any more time becomes pointless.
Rather than ignore the growing interest in a four-day week — I would argue that companies should now look at how remote-working, digital technologies can be used to increase productivity, in a way that leverages and multiplies the impact that their employees can have.
The shift to remote working has increased the need for a shorter workweek
As a knowledge worker myself, I’m extremely grateful for remote working technologies. Without them, I doubt I would have remained gainfully employed during the pandemic.
However, we can no longer ignore the fact that the shift to home-working has led to an increase in working hours, with no increase in pay.
According to data from NordVPN, in the U.S., remote employees are logging three hours more per day on the job than before the pandemic. In France, Spain, and the U.K. the day has stretched an additional two hours. A recent survey by global online employment platform Monster further revealed that over two-thirds (69%) of employees are experiencing burnout symptoms while working from home. Despite work burnout, the majority (59%) are taking less time off than they normally would, and 42% of those still working from home are not planning to take any time off to decompress.
A move to a four-day working week could therefore help to combat the growing levels of employee burnout. It would allow us all more time for family, friends, exercise or even taking care of housework — all without taking a pay cut.
The time is right for working differently in the digital age
It is difficult to say whether the time is right for a complete shift to a 4-day week pattern. Granted it won’t work for all industries. What is clear is that there has been a fundamental shift in how we work, accelerated by the pandemic.
We are working longer than ever before, with more demands outside of our work than ever before. We are living through a cost of living crisis meaning less money to outsource out-of-work activities such as housework and childcare. And more and more people are burning out.
At the same time, we have fantastic technology at our fingertips, allowing us to work collaboratively across geographic boundaries. Each of us has access to boundless information and can contact anyone in the world via the internet. The opportunity to work together to create new ideas is phenomenal.
Clearly, the time is right for working differently. We should not miss the opportunity to reconsider how to best work in the digital age.
