A team of Cambridge social scientists have been conducting research on the world’s largest trial of a four-day working week.
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The findings suggest that a four-day week significantly reduces stress and illness in the workforce, and helps with worker retention.
Some 71% of employees self-reported lower levels of “burnoutâ€, and 39% said they were less stressed, compared to the start of the trial.
Researchers found a 65% reduction in sick days, and a 57% fall in the number of staff leaving participating companies, compared to the same period the previous year.
Company revenue barely changed during the trial period – even increasing marginally by 1.4% on average for the 23 organisations able to provide data.
In a report of the results presented to UK lawmakers, some 92% of companies that took part in the UK pilot programme (56 out of 61) say they intend to continue with the four-day working week, with 18 companies confirming the change as permanent.
Research for the UK trials was conducted by a team of social scientists from the University of Cambridge, working with academics from Boston College in the US and the think tank Autonomy.
The trial was organised by 4 Day Week Global in conjunction with the UK’s 4 Day Week Campaign, and ran between June and December 2022.
Companies from across the UK took part, with around 2,900 employees dropping a day of work. Organisations involved in the trial ranged from online retailers and financial service providers to animation studios and a local fish-and-chip shop.
Other industries represented include consultancy, housing, IT, skincare, recruitment, hospitality, marketing, and healthcare.
Researchers surveyed employees throughout the trial to gauge the effects of having an extra day of free time. Self-reported levels of anxiety and fatigue decreased across workforces, while mental and physical health improved.
Many survey respondents said they found it easier to balance work with both family and social commitments: 60% of employees found an increased ability to combine paid work with care responsibilities, and 62% reported it easier to combine work with social life.
The design of the trial involved two months of preparation for participants, with workshops and mentoring based on the experience of companies already on a shorter working week.
In addition to the survey work, designed in collaboration with colleagues including Prof Juliet Schor from Boston College, the Cambridge team conducted a large number of extensive interviews with employees and company CEOs before, during and after the six-month trial.
Other pilots run by 4 Day Week Global in the US and Ireland – with research conducted by many of the same academics – have already reported their findings. However, the UK trial is not only the largest to date but also the first to include in-depth interview research.
In terms of motivations, several senior managers told researchers they saw the four-day week as a rational response to the pandemic – and believed it would give them an edge when it came to attracting talent in the post-Covid job market.
Some saw it as an appealing alternative to unlimited home working, which they felt risked company culture. Others had seen staff suffer through health problems and bereavement during the pandemic, and felt an increased “moral responsibility†towards employees.
However, many said shorter hours were being discussed long before Covid as a response to demanding or emotionally draining work. The CEO of a video game studio pointed to high-profile examples of “crunch and burnout†in their industry as a reason for involvement in the trial.
Perhaps surprisingly, however, no organisation interviewed was taking part in the trials simply because technology had reduced their need for human labour.
Some companies stopped work completely for a three-day weekend, while others staggered a reduced workforce over a week.
One restaurant calculated their 32-hour week over an entire year to have long opening times in the summer, but much shorter in winter.
A few companies in the trial attached strings to the reduced hours, including fewer holiday days, agreement that staff could be called in at short notice, or a “conditional†four-day week: one that only continued while performance targets were met. ■