Its largest trial application in the world to date four-day work week, instead of Pentecost, which took place in Britain for six months, reveals that it has significant benefits for the mental health of employees, without harming the productivity of companies.

The 61 British companies and organizations involved in experiment which began in June 2022, committed to a one-fifth (20%) reduction in the working hours of all their staff, without a corresponding reduction in wages.

The evaluation of the results was done by a group of social scientists from the University of Cambridge (led by social science professor Brendan Burchell), the American Boston College (led by sociology professor Juliet Shore) and the independent think tank Autonomy which focuses on the future of work.

The results of the research in the USA and Ireland had been previously published, but the test in Britain was the largest that has been done in the world, and therefore more representative. The report of findings was submitted in the British Parliament.

Compared to the same period last year when the five-day was still in place, 71% of workers reported lower levels of burnout and 39% less stress, while there was a 65% reduction in sick leave days and a 57% drop in the number of people quitting to go to another company. 60% reported that they were now better able to balance the demands of their work with those of their family and social life. On the other hand, companies’ revenues not only did not decrease due to the four-day work, but increased a little by 1.4% on average.

The experiment it was organized by the international organization “4 Day Week Global” (founded in New Zealand by businessmen and philanthropists) and the corresponding British “4 Day Week Campaign”. A total of about 2,900 workers in various industries (from retail sales, finance-banking, business consulting, IT, marketing and healthcare to animation studios and small fast food outlets) worked four days for one semester. Throughout the period the researchers assessed the effects of an extra day of free time, while extensive interviews were conducted with both employees and company CEOs before, during and after the experiment.

the 92% of the companies that participated in the pilot program (56 out of 61) reported that they intend to continue the four-day program, in fact 18 intend to make it permanent immediately. At the end of the semester, many managers said they could not imagine going back to the five-day, while the majority of workers said they were convinced that the four-day would eventually prevail everywhere.

Only a few participating companies accompanied the four-day with conditions such as reducing summer vacation days, immediately recalling staff if necessary, or continuing the experiment only to the extent that the company’s performance goals were met.

“Before the test, many wondered if we would see one increasing productivity that would offset the reduction in working time – and that’s exactly what we found,” Burchel said. “Many workers showed a great willingness to make themselves more efficient. Long meetings with too many people were drastically shortened or eliminated altogether. “Employees were much less inclined to ‘kill’ their time and actively sought out technologies that improved their productivity,” he added.

“We really feel encouraged from the results, which showed the many ways in which companies turned the four-day work week from a dream into a realistic policy, with multiple benefits”said researcher Dr David Frain of Cambridge’s Department of Sociology.

Joe Ryle, director of the “4 Day Week Campaign” spoke of a “major milestone” and emphasized that “across a wide range of different sectors of the economy, these incredible results show that four days of work really do ‘work'”.

Most workers reported that they used the extra day for shopping or household chores, so that they had a truly free day. Weekend for rest and recreation. Many stated that they now breathed more freely at home, some that they found new hobbies and interests, while others that they began to train for their profession and improve their skills. On the other hand, some appeared worried that the four days burden them with more work.