Four-day week pilot hailed a success

The latest four-day working week pilot, involving 17 companies and nearly 1,000 workers, has ended with a 100% success rate, it was announced on Thursday.

All 17 companies have decided to continue working a shorter working week at the end of the trial.

The six-month trial began last November and was organised by the 4 Day Week Foundation.

Organisations were able to maintain service levels and key performance indicators whilst observing several benefits for employee wellbeing, said the report.

Burnout

Almost two-thirds of workers registered a reduction in how often they experienced burnout, two in five found an improvement in their mental health and almost half said they felt more satisfied with life.

Joe Ryle, campaign director of the 4 Day Week Foundation, said: “With greater knowledge, expertise and experience of what it takes to successfully implement a four-day week, we’re really pleased to see such a high success rate.

“People are happier, businesses are thriving, and there’s no turning back.

“We’ve proved it again and again: a four-day week works and should now be implemented more widely across the economy.”

Alan Brunt, chief executive of Bron Afon Community Housing with 420 staff, who are extending their pilot further, said: “Almost as soon as we started talking about it, our teams got together to set about making it work which was brilliant.

“We’ve closely monitored our performance and customer satisfaction. We’re happy with the results so far and will continue to make sure we’re delivering for our customers.

“I expect that most organisations will be doing this in the next 10 years or so.”