A 4-day week in the UK has good benefits

In the midst of a six-month trial with Four-day working weeks across the UKMany companies have seen initial success Results From a recent survey. Of the 41 companies that responded to the questionnaire, 35 said they were “likely” or “very likely” to continue the reduced work week after the pilot ended.

In total, 72 companies are taking part in the trial, which will see their employees – a total of 3,300 people – get one day off with pay per week between Monday and Friday.

The trial began in June this year and is run by an organization called 4 Day Week Global, an independent think tank, the 4 Day Week UK campaign and researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Boston and Oxford.

More specifically, results to date show that:

• Productivity has improved in almost half of the companies (34% said it had “improved a little” and 15% said it had “improved significantly”), while many thought it was about the same (46% of respondents), although everyone worked one day less per week.

• 86% of respondents said they were “very likely” and/or “likely” to consider the idea of ​​having a four-day week once the pilot ends.

This data is based on responses from half of the companies participating in the pilot that responded to the survey.

“We see that it’s a very smooth transition for many and some understandable barriers for some – especially among those with fixed or flexible practices, systems or cultures dating back to the last century,” says the 4 Day Week Global CEO. Joe O’Connor.

Participating companies span most sectors of the economy, from fast-food restaurants to large corporations.

The idea of ​​a reduced work week has been around for a long time. Economist John Maynard Keynes predicted in 1930 In a text Under the title “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren,” everyone will work 15 hours a week because of the potential for wealth growth and technological advancement.

Since then many people have talked about the idea of ​​working less, most notably former US President Richard Nixon. predicted In 1956 in the “not too distant future” there was one less workday per week.

The UK project is one of many around the world, exploring what a four-day working week might look like in practice. There was a movement on the part of the French media 32 hour work week And there are attempts Large scale Occurs in America, Scotland, New Zealand and Iceland. In Sweden, A Recent testing Employees completed the same amount of work in four days as they did in five days.

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