A Long Weekend… Every Weekend!
As we enter the long Easter weekend, the biggest-ever pilot of a four-day working week is set to prove why shorter working hours with no loss of pay should be made permanent for us all.
The largest ever 4-day week pilot will show why shorter working hours should be the norm. (Photo by Hollie Adams/Getty Images)
The approaching Easter weekend means millions of us are looking forward to time away from the job. Workers in this country have some of the longest hours in Europe, so two bank holidays provide some rare respite.
But a better work-life balance could be the norm, not an exception. From June to December this year, the UK will host the world’s biggest ever pilot of a four-day working week to demonstrate the benefits of permanently reducing working hours—and set an example to be followed across the entire economy.
More than sixty companies and organisations have signed up to the pilot programme. Over 3,000 workers, based throughout the UK and representing more than thirty sectors, will receive 100 percent pay for eighty percent of the time, in exchange for a commitment to maintain at least 100 percent productivity. The pilot—organised by 4 Day Week Global, in partnership with the 4 Day Week UK Campaign, leading think tank Autonomy, and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College—is running alongside similar trials in countries spanning from Ireland to the United States to New Zealand.
The companies and organisations participating will receive mentoring from employers across the UK who have already shown that reversing our long-hours culture is possible by permanently reducing their working hours with no loss of pay for employees. To date, the 4 Day Week Campaign has accredited seventy-five employers who have reduced their working hours to thirty-five or fewer over four days, with most achieving the ‘gold standard’ of working thirty-two or fewer hours.
The expected benefits of the pilot are already clear. Where four-day weeks have been instituted so far, workers gain a better work-life balance that enables them to live happier and more fulfilled lives, and employers are able to recruit and retain high-quality and well-rested workers who deliver greater productivity and creativity. It’s a win-win.
More broadly, a four-day week provides opportunities to rebalance employment, decreasing the number of people who are overworked and the number who are unemployed or underemployed. It allows for greater gender equality through a more equal share of paid and unpaid work, too, including the caring roles that disproportionately fall on women, and better health and wellbeing for workers and their loved ones.
On top of that, evidence shows that cutting working hours isn’t only good for people: it’s good for the planet. It lowers energy use, meaning less pollution and an opportunity for us to live more sustainably and tackle the climate crisis.
The Practical Questions
The four-day week movement has enormous benefits and strong—and growing—momentum. The thousands of UK workers currently living it will never want to grind through a five-day week again—after all, it would make little sense to go back to an outdated construct introduced almost a century ago.
So the main challenge now is society-wide implementation. Some sectors have advantages over others—specifically, the workplaces based in offices from 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. They’re able to reduce to a four-day week without needing to employ more staff, while maintaining the same levels of outputs and deliverables for clients and customers.
Sectors like hospitality, retail, construction, manufacturing, care, the NHS, and schools, meanwhile, can’t reduce their ‘opening’ hours, and require employees to be physically present to do their jobs. The sad irony is that while the implementation of a four-day week in these sectors is more complicated, it’s these workers most in need of reduced hours: they’re overworked, stressed, and burnt out, and many are quitting.
Employers in these sectors will often need additional staff to cover opening hours across the week. That means there’s a cost involved in recruiting and paying additional employees, and where positions require qualifications, time will be needed to plan and deliver a strategic rollout. However, a full complement of happy, well-rested staff leads to less staff turnover, which in turn reduces the costs associated with recruitment, training, and absenteeism. A four-day week is ultimately an investment in long-term stability and viability.
To prove it, the pilot includes companies from these sectors that will lead the way in testing and trialling various implementation methods.
In the hospitality space, fish and chip shop Platten’s will find a way to open seven days a week for its customers while providing employees with four-day weeks. Retailer Bookishly will ensure its staff can take Wednesdays off while maintaining a 24/7 shop online and a reliable delivery service, and NeatClean will also benefit from an online presence and stocking products in other stores like Tesco and Waitrose. Health manufacturer 5 Squirrels and brewery Pressure Drop will determine how to do a four-day week while maintaining production outputs and sales.
In the care sector, the Outcomes First Group will reduce the working hours of its employees while maintaining relationships with 200 Local Authorities and Trusts to improve the lives of the children, young people, and adults for which they’re responsible. Other care providers operating around the country, like Helping Hands and AKA Case Management, will also find a balance between helping their employees and successfully serving their clients and communities.
The Future
This wide range of businesses is just a small slice of those taking part in the pilot. They’re all part of an ambitious experiment: we know the benefits of a four-day week are numerous, so finding ways to implement it successfully across all sectors is the key to a better future for workers, employers, the economy, society, and the environment as a whole.
In the face of a government which campaigned in the 2019 general election against proposals to shorten the working week, change will instead by propelled forward by the kind of forward-thinkers involved in the programme. History will look kindly on such innovators—and in the present, we will all be able to reclaim our lives.