Thousands of lucky employees have been chosen for the largest four-day work week pilot test in the United Kingdom. The trial has already started and employees from over 50 companies firms are getting paid 100% of their regular income to do their jobs even though they have gained an extra day for their personal time.
4 Day Week Global Runs 4-Day Work Week Pilot Test in the UK
The pilot test is set to last for six months and involves 3,300 employees from 70 different companies, CNN Business reported. These firms offer financial services, banking, education, automotive supply services, legal services, online retail, animation studios, building and construction, food and beverage services, digital marketing, and many others.
The participants will receive 100% of their salary for working 80% of their usual week, but with a catch - they should maintain 100% productivity. The non-profit organization 4 Day Week Global runs the test in cooperation with institutions like Cambridge University, Oxford University, and Boston College.
Sienna O'Rourke, the brand manager of the London-based independent brewery Pressure Drop Brewing, told CNN Business that the company is supportive of the pilot test to help improve its employees' mental health and well-being.
She noted that the pandemic has significantly changed their view on how people work and organize their lives. Through this project, they would be able to help improve the lives of their staff and become part of the progressive change in the world.
The pilot test is the largest of its kind, bigger than the pilot test in Iceland conducted between 2015 and 2019 with 2,500 public sector workers involved in two trials. The study in Iceland showed no corresponding drop in productivity among participants and even recorded a dramatic increase in the well-being of the employees.
In recent years, the calls for shorter work week have gained support in several countries as many employees shift to remote work during a pandemic, cutting the commuting time and costs. It also led to calls for greater flexibility in work.
A Triple Dividend Policy
Researchers of the four-day work week study in the UK will measure how the new working pattern could affect employees' productivity levels, Science Alert reported.
Study lead author Juliet Schor, an economist and sociologist from Boston College, said that their team would be analyzing how employees will respond to having an extra day off in terms of stress and burn-out, work-life balance, job, and life satisfaction, health, energy, travel, and many other aspects of life.
Aside from the UK, 4 Day Week Global is also conducting pilot tests in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the US. They hope that working less time but earning the same salary will give employees more energy, engagement, and well-being to be more effective and productive.
4 Day Week Global CEO Joe O'Connor added that more and more companies recognize that the new frontier for the competition is quality of life, reduced-hour, and output-focused working as the world emerged from the pandemic. The impact of the "great resignation" proves that workers from different industries can be more productive by working shorter hours and smarter.
"The four-day week is generally considered to be a triple dividend policy - helping employees, companies, and the climate. Our research efforts will be digging into all of this," Bloomberg quotes O'Connor.
Charity Bank CEO Ed Siegel also noted that perhaps the 20th-century concept of five-day working is no longer applicable for 21st-century business. Perhaps, the four-day work week with no change in salary or benefits will create a happier workforce with a positive impact in terms of the business' productivity.
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