Four-day working week trial launches in the UK
BID TO MEASURE WHETHER EMPLOYEES ARE MORE PRODUCTIVE WITH LONGER WEEKENDS
LONGER WEEKENDS = MORE PRODUCTION?
A trial of a four-day working week has launched in the UK in a bid to measure whether employees are more productive with longer weekends.
There has been much debate for years over the benefits of a shorter working week and it appears more businesses are now willing to take the plunge, as the Covid-19 pandemic shifts the global work model perhaps for good.
Around 30 UK companies are taking part in a six-month trial of a four-day week, where employees will be paid the same amount as if they were working their usual five days.
The pilot scheme – run by the 4 DAY WEEK CAMPAIGN, think tank Autonomy and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College – will measure whether employees can operate at 100% productivity for 80% of the time.
Similar trials run by 4 Day Week Global are also taking place this year in Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, while the Scottish and Spanish governments also launch pilots this month.
Joe O’Connor, pilot programme manager for 4 Day Week Global, believes 2022 “will be the year that heralds in this bold new future of work”.
He added: “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 programme 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.”