Hello friends, last July I wrote a blog about an ongoing pilot working with companies to see if a 4-day working week was feasible – you can read it here: https://jackiemandeir.com/blog/is-the-5-day-working-week-destined-to-end, but to summarise: the program is organised by 4 Day Week Global, a not-for-profit organization, in partnership with the think-tank Autonomy and several researchers, including those from Cambridge University, Oxford University, and Boston College. Over six months, the program involved 3,300 UK workers across 70 businesses, and the results are in. Almost every company (92%) that participated in the pilot has decided to continue with the four-day workweek. In addition to improved work-life balance, the program resulted in reduced stress and burnout for employees, lower levels of anxiety and fatigue, improved physical and mental health, and positive business metrics. With these incredible results, the 4 Day Week Campaign is pushing for wider adoption of the four-day workweek across the UK.

And the results are in and these are some of the headlines:

• Almost every company (92%) that took part has decided to continue with the four-day week after the pilot. Of the 61 companies that participated, at least 56 are continuing with the four-day week, with 18 saying the policy is a permanent change 

• The vast majority of companies were satisfied that business performance and productivity were maintained

• Over the six-month trial period, stress and burnout for employees both significantly declined with 71% of employees reporting lower levels of burnout

• Reported levels of anxiety, fatigue, and sleep issues decreased, while mental and physical health both experienced improvements.

• Measures of work-life balance improved. Respondents found it easier to balance their work with both family and social commitments and were more satisfied with their household finances, relationships, and how their time was being managed.

• Other key business metrics showed signs of positive effects. Companies’ revenue stayed broadly the same, rising by 1.4% on average.

• There was a substantial decline (57%) in the likelihood that an employee would quit, dramatically improving job retention.

• There was a 65% reduction in the number of sick days

  
  

Joe Ryle, Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, said:

“This is a major breakthrough moment for the movement towards a four-day working week.

“Across a wide variety of different sectors of the economy, these incredible results show that the four-day week with no loss of pay really works.

“Surely the time has now come to begin rolling it out across the country.”

Here are some extracts of media reporting:

Tyler Grange, an environmental consultancy that has six offices across England, is one of those fully embracing the new pattern.  Simon Ursell, its managing director, admits the first month of the trial was "a bit white knuckle". He didn't want to simply compress into four days the work that was being done in five because that would put staff under too much pressure, he says.

Staff at Tyler Grange are now on a permanent four-day week work pattern

Instead, the plan was to remove unnecessary meetings, travel, and admin. But in the end, it was the staff themselves who found the efficiencies required.

Now, he says, his staff are doing 2% more in four days than they used to do in five. The team is happier. Absenteeism has shrunk by two-thirds and applications to work at Tyler Grange are flooding in.

At the Royal Society of Biology, in London, its 38 employees now take either a Monday or a Friday off, and the working day has been extended from seven hours to eight.

Its chief executive, Mark Downs, said rethinking the way the organisation does its job had been crucial. “There’s no way that you can reduce your working hours and maintain productivity and not do things differently.”

I don’t have the source, but I saw one of the company owners talking on television about the way his company had changed their working day structure – he talked about deep work being done between 10.00 AM – 12.00 Noon and 2.00 PM – 4.00 PM where the staff concentrated on work at hand with no talking, interacting via email or meetings and reported increased productivity amongst all of the wellbeing impacts reported by other companies.

This all sounds really great and in providing balance, I have also seen media articles offering a different perspective, which may also be worth reading if you want a different perspective.

You can read more and download the full report here: UK Pilot | 4 Day Week

Other noteworthy things that have caught my attention this week:

Image of the Week

Quote of the Week

Question of the Week

What one thing would you want a second chance with?

Hope you have a great week ahead. Bye for now. Jackie