A follow-up report by Autonomy has found that, following the UK’s four-day week trial in 2022 the majority (89%) of businesses have continued with the policy and 51% of businesses have made the policy permanent.
The report found that the benefits of a four-day working week have been sustained following the end of the trial. All managers and CEOs described the policy as having a “positive” or “very positive” impact on their organisation, with 82% of companies reporting positive impacts on staff wellbeing. Since the end of the trial, burnout levels were largely unchanged, and work intensity had decreased and was lower than before the pilot. The report found that, following the trial, work-life balance had increased from 3.87 out of five immediately after the trial to 3.97 a year later.
46% of organisations reported a positive change to ways of working and productivity, leading to maintained or increased overall performance. Reported benefits of the shorter working week included increased efficiency, productivity and focus at work, greater satisfaction and less procrastination, reduced staff turnover and improved recruitment. Improved organisational efficiency, through smarter ways of working and reduced meetings, was also reported.
The report noted that businesses with conditional policies, which required targets to be met to receive a day off, had less success implementing a four-day working week. This was due to increased stress caused by the targets, resentment and a lack of predictability, meaning difficulties for staff to plan their time off, which often included childcare and caring responsibilities.
The report found that 58% of the public expects the four-day week to be the standard way of working by 2030.
Source: Practical Law