Trials of a four-day week involving around 2900 staff reported a reduction in employee stress of 39%, according to The results are in: the UK’s four-day week pilot, published earlier this year by Autonomy Research Ltd.
Of the 61 companies participating in the six-month study, only three decided to return to five-day working at the end of the trial, with 18 committing to making the four-day week permanent.
For the 23 companies supplying financial data, revenue increased by 1.4% from the beginning to the end of the trial (June to December 2022).
Comparing revenue from ‘a comparable, prior six-month period’ in 2021, the authors calculated an average increase in revenue of 35%.
The report notes a reduction in resignations compared to a reference period, from 2 to 0.8 per 100 employees. Meanwhile, absenteeism fell by 65%, from 2.0 to 0.7 days per employee per month.
While these results all sound ‘resoundingly positive’, some reservations remain about the study.
The challenges
The nature of this type of study is that organisations self-select and devise their own working pattern within the proviso that staff are paid 100% of their salary for 80% of the hours. There were no control groups, making it difficult to assess, compare and apply the results.
Without a control group, it is impossible to tell whether the improvements are a result of the four-day week.
The prior bias of the researchers is a further concern. The involvement of two organisations with ‘four-day week’ in their title suggests they didn’t set out to disprove their hypothesis.
A more general concern about the four-day week is that it might magnify existing differences between groups of workers over the quality of work, as well as magnify the potential risks, such as an increase in workload. To meet OSH targets, companies need to make a balance between productivity and OSH objectives. Another risk of omitting one working day is the potential it creates to put extra pressure on employees to meet production goals.
Takeaways
This report highlights the possible benefits of a shorter working week and provides guidance on how to prepare, from consultation with staff and clients on new patterns of working to introducing productivity initiatives and measuring the impact of changes.
If your organisation is considering a four-day week, you need to ensure that wellbeing and safety are part of the conversation. Implementing the Management Of Change protocol might be a good approach to deal with the possible outcome of such a change. We all need a bit more productivity.
Read the original research here.
Bridget Leathley is a freelance health and safety consultant and a health and safety trainer. She has been writing for health and safety publications fore more than 25 years.