The World Briefly

February 27, 2023

Less for More

United Kingdom

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The trial of a four-day workweek in Britain found that employees working shorter hours were more productive and less stressed, while a company’s revenue remained largely unchanged, the Associated Press reported this week.

Billed as the largest experiment of its kind in the world, the pilot program sought to understand how employees in the United Kingdom working in various industries – including non-profits, marketing and finance –would respond to a reduced work week while receiving the same pay.

Around 2,900 workers at 61 British-based firms from various sectors participated in the trial between June and December 2022.

For the study, companies were required to implement shortened workweeks, which would consist of either one fewer workday or longer hours during certain times of the week to create an average 32-hour week.

The findings showed major benefits to the employees’ well-being: More than 70 percent reported feeling less burned out and 39 percent felt less stressed. Meanwhile, 48 percent appeared more satisfied with their job than before the trial.

Fatigue among employees dropped with workers reporting better sleep and work-life balance. The results also showed that the likelihood of employees quitting went down 57 percent compared with the same period a year earlier.

The benefits also extended to the companies, which showed their revenue was unaffected and, in certain instances, grew by up to 1.4 percent over the course of the pilot. The researchers noted that measuring a company’s profitability was not part of their analysis.

The authors added that the positive outcome of the trial has encouraged 92 percent of the participating firms to continue the four-day workweek, with 30 percent saying it’s a permanent change.

They added that the shortened workweek might apply to every worker – such as nurses and first responders – but explained that the “resounding success” of the UK pilot program mirrors earlier efforts in Ireland and the United States.

The coronavirus pandemic has upended the way the world works, with countries and companies taking initiatives amid demands for more flexibility to improve the work-life balance, the newswire wrote.

This story originally appeared in the February 27, 2023 newsletter, Man and Country.