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UK four-day week trial hailed as a success one year on


www.personneltoday.com | Adam McCulloch

Most of the organisations that took part in a 61-company, six-month trial in the UK of the four-day week, have made the policy permanent.

The trial, which covered 3,000 workers, taking place between June and December 2022, has been described as the world’s largest four-day week experiment. It was run by nonprofit 4 Day Week Global and the thinktank Autonomy.

Fresh research has revealed that of the 61 organisations that took part in the UK, 54 (89%) were still operating the policy a year later (December 2023), and 31 (51%) had made the change permanent. More than 100 firms undertook the trial across the world.

The analysis, by researchers at Boston College in the US and a sociology expert at University College Dublin, found that more than half (55%) of project managers and chief executives agreed that a four-day week – in which staff worked 100% of their output in 80% of their time – produced multiple benefits on their organisations.

More than three-quarters of respondents (82%) said the four-day week had improved wellbeing, half found it reduced staff turnover, while a third (32%) said it improved recruitment. Productivity had improved according to nearly half of those asked (46%).

The research’s authors said the main reason employees had maintained productivity in the four-day week is that companies had decreased or cut activities with questionable or low value. They said: “Meetings – a traditional source of complaints among employees and managers alike –…


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