4-Day Workweek on Trial in United Kingdom

With all the changes in the workforce in recent years—from remote work to hybrid schedules and the great resignation and labor shortages—employers are looking at new ways to conduct business. Several countries have been experimenting with four-day workweeks instead of the traditional Monday through Friday.

Thousands of workers in the United Kingdom began the largest test of a four-day workweek to date, CNN reports. The six-month trial will include 3,300 workers from 70 different companies in a wide variety of industries, from financial services to restaurants. During the program, workers will receive 100% of their pay for working 80% of their usual week, in exchange for promising to maintain 100% of their productivity. After the six months, researchers will measure the impact the new working pattern had on productivity levels, gender equality, and the environment as well as worker well-being.

Until now, Iceland had conducted the largest pilot of a shorter workweek with 2,500 public sector workers involved in two large trials between 2015 and 2019. Those trials found no corresponding drop in productivity among participants, and a dramatic increase in employee well-being.

Sienna O’Rourke, brand manager at Pressure Drop Brewing, an independent brewery in London that is participating in the trail program, said the company’s goal is to improve the mental health and well-being of its employees.

“The pandemic [has] made us think a great deal about work and how people organize their lives,” she said. “We’re doing this to improve the lives of our staff and be part of a progressive change in the world.”

Calls to shorten the workweek have increased in several countries. Government-backed trials are set to take place in Spain and Scotland later this year.