Thousands of workers in UK start ‘world’s biggest’ four-day working week trial

Thousands of workers across the UK are now working four-day weeks with no change in pay as part of the ‘world’s biggest’ trial on the working pattern.

3,300 workers from seventy different companies – ranging from local chippies, major financial firms, educational institutions and consultancy firms – have started their four-day working weeks from today, Monday June 6th, with no cut in pay.

This has been based on the 100:80:100 model – 100% of pay for 80% of the time with the promise to maintain 100% productivity.

The pilot – scheduled to run for six months – was organised by academics at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, as well as Boston College in the US, in partnership with the campaign group 4 Day Week Global, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign, and the Autonomy think tank.

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In the coming months, 4 Day Week Global aims to examine how four-day working weeks might work at a broad range of companies across the economy in the wake of the Covid pandemic, which saw a number of companies reevaluate the standard 9-5, five-day working week.

Researchers will also work closely with each participating company to measure the impact on productivity in the business and the wellbeing of its workers, as well as the impact on the environment and gender equality.

If the pilot is successful, the participating firms could make the shorter working week permanent.

Some of the companies involved are Sheffield-based software firm Rivelin Robotics, Platten’s Fish and Chips in Wells-next-the-Sea on the north Norfolk coast, and London-based inheritance tax specialists Stellar Asset Management.

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Joe O’Connor, chief executive of 4 Day Week Global, said: “As we emerge from the pandemic, more and more companies are recognising that the new frontier for competition is quality of life, and that reduced-hour, output-focused working is the vehicle to give them a competitive edge.”

Last year, a Greater Manchester-based packing firm made headlines for permanently adopting a four-day working week to give its employees ‘time to focus on themselves’

Belmont Packaging and its e-commerce sister business, Boxed-Up, both based in Wigan, initially trialled the shorter working week in its manufacturing departments before the pandemic in late 2019.

After the trial proved to be a major success, the company announced last year that it would be making the shorter hours a permanent fixture for its thirty-one staff members.