A study from the UK’s ongoing four-day workweek pilot found that 86% of the companies participating in the pilot intend to continue with the four-day workweek once it is over. This is reported The Times.
The study was conducted by the 4 Day Week Global movement, which organizes such experiments around the world, in collaboration with scientists from Boston College (USA), Oxford and Cambridge Universities and the Autonomy think tank. The study examined the intermediate results of the experiment, which has begun in June and should end in November of this year. More than 70 British companies from different sectors of the economy and with different numbers of employees are participating in the experiment.
Interim results show that 78% of participating executives described the transition to a four-day work week as “smooth” and only 2% experienced serious difficulties with it. According to 88% of companies, this mode of operation is efficient and convenient. 49% of companies noted that their productivity has increased, and for 46% of companies, productivity remains stable in relation to the period before the start of the experiment. 86% of companies intend to use this mode of operation after November as well.
A similar experiment is currently underway in the US, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and Canada. According to the developers of this idea, not all companies that wish to participate in the experiment reach its implementation, many refuse already at the planning stage. Approximately one in five employers does not dare to start the experiment. Those who started the experiment talk about the two main challenges they face: changing the standard five-day workflow to a four-day workflow, and improving workflows so that productivity stays the same while the workweek is shortened.