Employees who will have a 4-day week on full pay

Thousands of workers in the United Kingdom and 70 companies will participate from this Monday (6) in an experiment that will last four weeks.

The world’s largest pilot work standards project was organized by a group that advocates for shorter working weeks without loss of pay. During the experiment, employees will receive 100% of their salary to work 80% of the original day, with the aim of testing their productivity.

Professors from the University of Oxford and Cambridge, as well as Boston College in the United States, will manage the research in partnership with the think tank Autonomy.

Participating companies range from software developers to companies that do recruitment work for NGOs and local stores that offer fish and chips., typical british dish.

The experiment, which involves around 3,000 UK workers, is part of a worldwide initiative that includes similar but smaller-scale trials in Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Recently, the government of Portugal also announced that it intends to launch a similar pilot program, with around 100 voluntary companies.

Sam Smith, co-founder of Pressure Drop Brewery in Tottenham, North London, said it’s a good time for his company to try different work practices.

“The pandemic made us think a lot about work and how people organize their lives,” he says. “We’re doing this to improve the lives of our team and be part of a progressive change in the world that will improve people’s mental health and well-being.”

Smith’s challenge during the pilot is quite simple. His team of nine must brew and package the same amount of beers they do now — but in four days instead of five.

“I think it’s about how you spend your time,” says Smith. “So when I talk about being productive, I don’t mean being faster at the task you’re doing right now, but rather using, for example, the normal downtime you have to better prepare for the day ahead.”

‘More focus’

Clare Doherty, who manages Smith’s company, said the test was “fantastic” and part of a “natural progression of how we work”.

She explained that having worked in this industry for more than four years and knowing that she can do her job makes her feel confident that she will be able to accomplish tasks efficiently in a day less.

“It’s going to mean a few minutes less surfing the internet during work, because you need to be a little more focused to get what you need to do in the time you have,” she said.

Meanwhile, Craig Carmichael, who also works at the brewery, thinks an extra day of rest will motivate him to work harder.

“If I know that I have to do things in four days to take advantage of that extra day, I think it will be a good incentive,” he told the BBC.

Cutting non-productive activities

“The UK test is historic,” said Juliet Schor, principal investigator for the Global 4-day Week project, and economist and sociologist at Boston College.

“The basis of this movement is the argument that there are activities going on in many workplaces, particularly white-collar ones, that are low-productivity and that you can cut back without hurting the business.”

She said the problem with the five-day week is that work can simply expand to fit the extra time.

“Adhering to a rigid, century-old, fixed-time system makes no sense,” added Schor. “You can be 100% productive 80% of the time in many workplaces, and companies embracing this around the world have demonstrated this.”

However, the researcher admits that the idea may not appeal to everyone or suit all professions, such as health and teaching, where workers may already be overworked and stressed.

But even if employees are only 10% more productive, the balance could still be positive, she says, if the new scheme leads to lower rates of illness among workers, fewer people leaving their jobs, and if it more easily attracts new employees. .

Girling Jones, a small construction recruiting firm in Exeter, England, changed its work schedule to a four-day week in January but also signed up for the experiment.

Productivity is up and so is profits, said company boss and founder Simon Girling. “All of our activities — calls, meetings, interviews, are on the rise… just everybody is getting more done in less time,” he added.

Employees are happier too —Ellen Andreassen said she uses her day off to relax. “I’m definitely more motivated. One thing I’ve noticed is sleep. I’m sleeping a lot better and getting out of bed is a lot easier.”

His colleague Josh Cockerill said that spending more time with his daughter was helping him save money on day care. “Having a day off in the middle of the week encourages you to work harder until that day off,” he said.

After changing daily routines during the Covid pandemic, the company was ready to experiment with new work patterns. “The four-day week revolutionized the company,” said Girling.

“After the pandemic, we did a lot of research on this and we couldn’t find any negative points (in reducing the work week to four days),” he said.

“I think with this four-day weekly pilot we’ll have really detailed statistics on that. I’m not sure if it would work for every industry or company, but it’s a really good opportunity for a lot of them to change how they work and improve.”