All about world’s largest 4-day work week trial in UK
Do you also feel that we spend most of our youth limited to a small cubicle, ignoring to live the life? It sounds as sad as sad could be. Since the pandemic eased a little, and people slowly came out of the work-from-home model, there has been a lot of focus on higher quality of life and better working conditions.
One of the debates during the time was about the age-old corporate five-day work week. People are increasingly discussing whether our work culture needs to shift to a four-day work week and a three-day weekend.
Now, in a first, the world’s largest experiment of a four-day work week has started in the UK. Since Monday, June 6, 2022, the UK started observing whether this work schedule actually works or not.
- Participants: Over 3,300 employees from 70 different companies
- Industry: Banking, care, hospitality, animation, retail, etc.
- Time period: 6 months
- Organisers: 4 Day Week Global campaign and researchers from Oxford and Cambridge universities, Boston College and think tank Autonomy.
Employees taking part in the experiment will receive 100% payment for 80% of the work, but with a promise of 100% productivity. It is called the 100:80:100 model.
What will the experiment observe?
Researchers will observe how participants respond to the extra day off:
- Job and life satisfaction
- Job retention
- Productivity at work
- Travel
- Health
- Sleep cycle
- Burnout
- Gender and equality
- Environmental impact
What are participants saying? Co-founder of Pressure Drop Brewery, Sam Smith told the BBC that it was a good time to experiment with different working practices.
'The pandemic's made us think a great deal about work and how people organise their lives. We're doing this to improve the lives of our staff and be part of a progressive change in the world that will improve people's mental health and wellbeing,' BBC quoted Smith.
A participating employee Craig Carmichael told the BBC that he will be motivated to work better with the extra day off incentive.
Similar trials: While the UK trial is the largest ever in the world, it is not the first to test the work schedule.
- Iceland has conducted the second largest trial so far between 2015 and 19 with 2,500 public sector employees. It found no change or drop in productivity and better employee well-being.
- In 2019, Microsoft Japan tested the work schedule and found an increase in productivity by 40% and an increase in employee well-being.
- Spain and Scotland are also set to test the work schedule later this year.
The work schedule and format debate has been going on across the world. It’s not just the four-day work week that is being discussed, but also the need to work from the office. Infamously, Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently sent an ultimatum to the car maker’s employees to return to the office or face consequences.
However, it needs to be noted that the four-day work week or the hybrid or work-from-home models cannot be easily replicated in some sectors like medicine and education.
What would you do if you had a four-day weekend?