Comment on this story
comment
If the idea of working four days a week for the same wage sounds like music to your ears, the results of a pilot program in the UK can give hope.
There, dozens of companies took part in the world’s largest trial of the four-day week – and a majority of managers and employees liked it so much that they decided to keep the rule. In fact, 15 percent of participating employees said “no amount of money” would convince them to go back to working five days a week.
Nearly 3,000 employees participated in the pilot, which was organized by advocacy group 4 Day Week Global in collaboration with research group Autonomy and researchers from Boston College and the University of Cambridge.
Participating companies were able to use a variety of methods to “sensibly” reduce their employees’ workweeks – from taking one day off per week to reducing their working days to an average of 32 hours per week in a year’s time – but had to ensure that employees still received 100 percent of their salary.
At the end of the experiment, employees reported a range of benefits related to their sleep, stress levels, home life and mental health, according to the results released Tuesday. The companies’ revenue remained “broadly the same” during the six-month trial but increased by an average of 35 percent compared to a similar period in previous years. Resignations have declined.
Here’s the story of the invention of the 40-hour workweek, the burnout crisis, and the alternatives employers are using today to attract their workforce. (Video: Jackie Lay/Washington Post)
Of the 61 companies that took part in the study, 56 said they would continue the four-day workweek after the end of the pilot, with 18 saying the shift would be permanent. Two companies are extending the trial. Only three companies planned not to continue part of the four-day workweek.
The findings are likely to put shorter workweeks back in the spotlight as a possible solution to high levels of employee burnout and the phenomenon of the “Great Resignation” exacerbated by the pandemic, amid a global movement urging companies to move away from office work, 9-to-5, five-day week, and adopt more flexible work practices instead.
The world’s largest pilot project with a four-day working week has just started in Great Britain
Higher sales, improved employee well-being
The UK study’s findings build on the findings of an earlier, smaller pilot published in November, also coordinated by 4 Day Week Global. This experiment, which involved about 30 companies and 1,000 employees in multiple countries, resulted in increased revenue, reduced absenteeism and layoffs, and improved employee well-being. None of the participating companies planned to return to the five-day week after the end of the pilot.
The 4-Day-Week Global group is coordinating these pilot programs as part of its global campaign to encourage more companies to move from the standard 40-hour week to a 32-hour model for the same pay and benefits.
The UK pilot included twice as many companies and employees as the previous pilot and is the largest of its kind. The benefits for participants extended beyond the office and into employees’ personal lives.
Participants were less likely to report feeling they didn’t have enough time during the week to care for their children, grandchildren, or elders in their lives. The time men spent looking after children more than doubled compared to women, suggesting a positive impact of a shorter work week on gender equality – although the proportion of housework reported by men and women did not change.
A majority of employees who experienced the four-day workweek did not want to go back: at the end of the pilot, they were asked how much money they would have to receive from their next employer in order to go back to a five-day workweek. Almost a third said they would want a 26 to 50 percent raise, and 8 percent said they would want a 50 percent raise.
Four-day weeks and freedom of movement: companies are (again) rewriting the future of work
A better work-life balance is why Michelle, a 49-year-old media executive who asked to be identified by her first name so she can be candid about her previous employment, insisted on a four-day work week when she applied to her current position. After working three-day weeks and then four-day weeks after returning from maternity leave in 2015, she noticed a “sharp” difference when she switched back to five-day weeks and worked for a different company during the pandemic.
“I suddenly felt like my whole life revolved around work,” she says. She said she was “close to burnout” and when her contract with the company ended, she made it clear to potential employers that she wanted to work four days a week. In her current position, she has Fridays off and is paid 80 percent of what she would earn if she worked five days.
“It feels like I can breathe,” she said. “It feels like I’m not constantly behind on my family life and I feel guilty and I’m cramming all the jobs and errands and everything into two days.”
The additional time off is particularly helpful for childcare, she says. She is co-parent to her 9-year-old son who has autism. At her previous job, when she worked three or four-day weeks, the extra time meant “I could pick him up from school and we could spend more time together,” she says. “It makes a big difference for the parents.”
A four-day work week in Maryland? Perhaps. Bill would set up a pilot program.
Although the four-day workweek model has gained some traction, it is still not standard practice worldwide, and much research on this policy is limited by size. Most of the companies that participated in the UK study were small – 66 percent had 25 employees or fewer – and tended to explore the concept of flexible working. Ninety percent of the participating employees were white, and 68 percent had at least a bachelor’s degree.
Opponents of the four-day week say that while the policy may benefit some workers, it’s unworkable for many, including workers in key industries like childcare and healthcare, who already face widespread staff shortages. Some workers would rather work more and earn more. And some skeptics believe that if the four-day work week were made permanent, employee productivity would ultimately fall.
Supporters of the directive stress that there is no one-size-fits-all solution and that the benefits of a shorter workweek could resonate across society by lowering healthcare costs and reducing emissions from daily commuting. Your ideas are becoming more and more mainstream. Several large-scale trials of shorter workweeks are underway around the world. In 2021, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) introduced a bill that would reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours and require overtime pay for work in excess of that limit.
There is precedent for a large-scale change in the standard workweek: As the Washington Post previously noted, before the Great Depression, it was not uncommon for employees in the United States to work six-day weeks. The 40-hour week was first codified in US law in 1938. The argument from groups like 4 Day Week Global is that “we’re overdue for an update”.
Rachel Pannett contributed to this report.
Sign up for the Well+Being newsletter, your source for expert advice and simple tips to help you live well every day
More Well+Being articles about life
Check out 3 more stories