Four-day week: 3,000 employees in the UK to take part in the biggest trial of its kind

The four-day week seems like it has been coming any day now for years. But for some 3,000 employees in the UK, it will soon be a reality - at least for six months.

Sixty UK companies and organisations have signed up for the biggest ever four-day week trial, which will start in June and end in January 2023.

The trial is being organised by 4 Day Week Global, along with the think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week Campaign, and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College who will be collecting and analysing the results.

The researchers will work with each organisation to measure the impact of the reduced hours on productivity, and the well-being of its workers, as well as the impact on the environment and gender equality.

Those taking part will work one day less a week while receiving the same pay.

According to the organisations running the pilot, employees are expected to follow "the 100:80:100 model - 100 per cent of the pay for 80 per cent of the time, in exchange for a commitment to maintain at least 100 per cent productivity".

Organisations taking part include the Royal Society of Biology, a brewing company called Pressure Drop, and a fish and chip shop.

Previous largest study an 'overwhelming success'

The previous largest study of this kind took place in Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. More than 2,500 workers were involved in that trial.

It was hailed as an "overwhelming success," with workers reporting being less stressed, reduced risk of burnout, and there were no negative effects on productivity or services.

Conducted in 2015 and 2016, the trials led to material changes in the country.

Last year, 86 per cent of workers in Iceland were either working shorter weeks or had contracts that would enable them to reduce their hours.

At the time, Will Stronge, Director of Research at Autonomy said: "This study shows that the world’s largest-ever trial of a shorter working week in the public sector was by all measures an overwhelming success".

Those involved in organising this pilot point to the sudden and necessary changes to working patterns and expectations caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

"Workers have emerged from the pandemic with different expectations around what constitutes a healthy life/work balance," said Joe O’Connor, CEO of 4 Day Week Global.

"Sometimes it takes a big disruptor to dislodge deeply embedded societal and cultural norms. That's what we are seeing with the traditional five-day working week following the Covid-induced flexible working revolution. Those who think we will turn the clock back to the way things were two years ago are engaged in 'pie in the sky' thinking - the four-day week is an idea whose time has come".

Dr Mark Downs, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Biology, said: "The pandemic has taught many of us that long-standing working practices can change rapidly, including the reliance on physical office space.

The trial will run alongside similar pilot schemes taking place in Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.