- One of the largest 4-day
work week trials has begun. It involves 3,300 workers at 70 UK firms. - Workers will cut their weekly hours by 20% for six months and won't see their pay reduced.
The UK is about to be the center of a global experiment. On Monday, one of the largest experiments to reduce the length of the working week begins, with 3,300 workers at 70 firms due to cut their hours to four days a week.
The six-month
The concept of a four-day working week is not new but it has gained traction over recent years in response to rising levels of burnout, and record quit rates. There are many ways to do so but campaigners say that reducing the standard, 40-hour work week not only makes workers happier but can improve social inequality and can help the environment.
It seems others agree. Joe Ryle, campaign director for the 4 Day Week UK, told Insider that his phone was ringing every 15 minutes in the days following the launch of the trial in January. Since then, 70 employers, across financial services, brewing, and automotive manufacturing have signed up.
From June 6th, they'll adopt a 80-100-100 model of working: a drop in hours to 80% of their standard work week, while retaining 100% pay and 100% productivity. How each firm does that is down to them.
Academics from Oxford University, Cambridge University, and Boston College will conduct interviews with workers involved and look at data to assess how successful it's been.
"We'll be analyzing how employees respond to having an extra day off, in terms of stress and burnout, job and life satisfaction, health, sleep, energy use, travel and many other aspects of life," said Juliet Schor, professor of sociology at Boston College and lead researcher on the pilot.
Participating companies have been whittled down from a shortlist of hundreds to ensure a range of industries and types of firms are covered.
Some of the first firms to sign up were the training company MLB Seminars, communications firm Yo Telecom, and video game designer Hutch Games. Pressure Drop Brewing, The Royal Society of Biology, and Platten's Fish and Chips restaurant are among other employers taking part.
The campaigners plan to compile a report, which they can then present — alongside data from pilots currently underway in Ireland, the USA and Canada — as a test case to governments and business leaders. They hope the findings will demonstrate that it's possible to reduce hours without losing productivity.
The trial hopes to change perceptions among workers
"The pilot is going to be useful for shifting the question about how we make it work," David Frayne, research associate at University Of Cambridge's Digital Futures at Work Research Centre, and one of the social scientists involved in the UK study, told Insider.
One of the biggest challenges Frayne has identified is changing the public's perception of what a four-day week actually entails.
While many dream of a long, three-day weekend, the concept is only going to work at all levels of the labor market if it can be tailored to individual businesses and sectors, Frayne said. A one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to work.
During a trial of a six-hour working day for care workers in Gothenburg, Sweden, extra staff were hired to accommodate the switch. In contrast, during well-documented trials in Iceland involving 2,500 people, some childcare workers shortened their day by leaving when the children went home, instead of staying later.
In total, across the whole trial, which included government call center workers and child protection staff, the average worker cut between two and five hours from their working week and experienced improvements in wellbeing.
Campaigners argue that a reduction in working hours can typically be achieved by cutting down meetings and using technology to improve workloads.
Ryle is very clear about what it doesn't mean: "Compressing hours from five days into four doesn't solve the problems of workplace burnout, stress, overwork, or mental health issues," Ryle said. It also shouldn't come with a reduction in pay.
Anyone hoping for a sudden change shouldn't get too excited
While the idea of a four-day work week may be popular with workers, it's only slowly gaining traction in political circles.
Governments in Spain and Scotland have gone the furthest by pledging millions to fund as yet unspecified trials. Senate members within the devolved parliament in Wales in the UK are also actively debating the concept.
Many of those involved in the UK pilot have backgrounds in politics. Ryle himself was previously communications manager for the Labour party's former shadow finance minister, John McDonnell. However, they say 4 Day Week Global's pilot is independent and politicians aren't directly involved.
In the US, the California Democrat Mark Takano has been one of the most high-profile political advocates. His legislation seeks to reduce the threshold at which workers qualify for overtime pay, from 40 to 32 hours.
In May, a separate proposal that sought to require private-sector firms with more than 500 employees in California to pay workers hourly overtime after they notch up 32 hours was shelved. The decision was made after The State Assembly's Labor and Employment Committee declined to progress it for a
However, despite burgeoning support for the initiative, given current labor shortages, it remains a goal that is out of reach for many. Some business groups oppose the concept, on the grounds that it will increase their costs.
Ryle points to how changes in working patterns during the pandemic demonstrate that the world of work can change quickly when we want it to.
"We're very clear that this is a policy that has to benefit everyone," Ryle said. "And of course, that's not gonna happen overnight. There's gonna be a transition to get there."