Nearly 90% of UK companies support 4-day work week

Closely watched companies in the UK shifting to four-day workweeks in pilot programs run by the nonprofit 4 Day Week Global found that the four-day workweek is good, Report informs referring to Bloomberg.

A survey out September 20 finds that 78% of leaders at the more than 70 UK companies that shifted to four-day schedules say their transition was good or “seamless.” Only 2% found it challenging. Most (88%) say that four-day schedules are working well.

The idea of a four-day workweek is no joke. California lawmakers recently considered, and then shelved, plans for a statewide four-day workweek for some employees. A survey by Gartner Inc. found a shorter week to be a favored recruitment and retention strategy.

Six-month pilot programs with over 180 companies are currently underway in a half-dozen countries. Employers typically transition to four-day, 32-hour schedules (with variations depending on role and industry), with no reduction in pay. In the UK pilot, executives at companies with a total of 3,300 employees were surveyed at the halfway point. The program is operated in conjunction with the 4 Day Week Campaign and the think tank Autonomy, along with a data-collection partnership of researchers at Boston College, Cambridge University and Oxford University.

Nearly all of the participating UK organizations (86%) said they’ll likely keep four-day schedules after the pilots finish in November. Almost half, 49%, said that productivity had improved, while 46% said it has remained stable.

Pilot studies are continuing in the UK, US, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and Canada.

Not all of the organizations that begin the trials complete them, O’Connor said. Roughly 1 in 5 employers drop out, more than half during the pre-planning stage. Executives who have undertaken the pilot studies say that they face the dual challenge of overcoming staff and industry five-day norms alongside the tricky task of removing of improving work processes to get the same output in in four days.