Over 90% of participating firms to continue four-day working week after pilot

56 out of the 61 firms which took part in a pilot scheme trialling a four-day working week plan to continue with the changes.

First launched in June 2022, businesses from all sizes and industries began a six month trial that saw around 2,900 workers around the UK reduce their working hours from five to four days a week with no loss of earnings in order to assess the impact of reduced working hours on business performance and employee wellbeing.

The pilot was run by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with Autonomy, the 4 Day Week Campaign, and researchers at University of Cambridge and Boston College. Participating businesses were given the choice of how to implement the reduction in working hours, such as by giving all staff Friday off or choosing a staggered approach, so long as employees had a ‘meaningful’ reduction in work time with no loss of income.

Of the participating firms, 92% plan to continue with the new working pattern, with 18 of the 61 participants making it a permanent policy change. Companies involved largely reported no decline in business performance and productivity as a result of the trial, with an average 1.4% growth over the trial period.

Employees overwhelmingly reporting a boost to their physical and mental health with reduced levels of stress, anxiety and burnout, as well as improvements to overall measures of wellbeing; there was also a 57% decline in the likelihood a employee would leave their role at participating businesses, and a 65% drop in the number of sick days. 15% of employees taking part in the scheme also found that such were the benefits of reduced working hours that no amount of additional salary could convince them back into a five-day working week.

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.”

Dr David Frayne, Research Associate at University of Cambridge, said:

“The method of this pilot allowed our researchers to go beyond surveys and look in detail at how the companies were making things work on the ground.

“We feel really encouraged by the results, which showed the many ways companies were turning the four-day week from a dream into a realistic policy, with multiple benefits. We think there is a lot here that ought to motivate other companies and industries to give it a try.”

The full report detailing the trial and its results can be found on the 4 Day Week campaign website.

The campaign has now also begun recruiting businesses to sign up to a wider rollout of a four-day working week following the success of the pilot scheme.