{"id":1226,"date":"2023-11-22T15:35:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-22T15:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sense.hr\/blog\/what-were-the-findings-of-the-uk-4-day-working-week-trial\/"},"modified":"2023-11-22T15:35:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T15:35:26","slug":"what-were-the-findings-of-the-uk-4-day-working-week-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sense.hr\/blog\/what-were-the-findings-of-the-uk-4-day-working-week-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"What were the findings of the UK 4-day working week trial?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Between June and December last year, 61 UK companies containing over 2,900 workers participated in the world\u2019s largest four-day working week trial.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  It was an attempt to answer the controversial question of whether employees working a 4-day week would be more productive than those working 5 days.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In this trial, employees were dropping to a 4-day week, but they would continue with the same workload as if working 5 days and therefore continue to receive 100% pay, not pro-rated pay.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  This is known as the <em><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/four-day-working-week-trial-in-uk-shows-10080100-model-is-growing-fast-but-same-job-in-less-time-may-power-stress-and-anxiety\/\">100:80:100<\/a><\/u><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/four-day-working-week-trial-in-uk-shows-10080100-model-is-growing-fast-but-same-job-in-less-time-may-power-stress-and-anxiety\/\"> 4 day work week model<\/a><em>: 100 percent of the pay for 80 percent of the time, in exchange for a commitment to maintaining at least 100 percent productivity.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  This experiment would put the 4-day week increased productivity hypothesis to the test, and potentially to bed, if the results were disastrous!\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  But, thankfully for 4-day-week advocates and for most of the participants the experiment was a resounding success, at least according to the team who were behind the study.\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">92% of participants retained the four-day week after the study finished<\/h2>\n<p>\n  Within the confines of the study, the results do seem to back up their conclusion of resounding success with 56 out of 61 companies (92%) who participated in the study choosing to continue with the study.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Some of the key employee benefits in the study were:\n<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\n    39% of employees were less stressed.\n  <\/li>\n<li>\n    71% had reduced levels of burnout.\n  <\/li>\n<li>\n    54% found it was easier to balance work with household jobs.\n  <\/li>\n<li>\n    60% of employees found an increased ability to combine paid work with care responsibilities.\n  <\/li>\n<li>\n    Staff turnover dropped by 57%\n  <\/li>\n<li>\n    62% reported it easier to combine work with social life.\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Revenues increased marginally<\/h2>\n<p>\n  Also, company revenues stayed broadly the same over the trial period, rising by 1.4% on average with organisations reporting revenue increases of 35% on average.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  However, with only 18 out of 61 (32%) choosing to make this a permanent change we have to be careful about what conclusions can be drawn from the study.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Clearly, most of the participants aren\u2019t sure enough about the results to commit to this long-term. This is kind of understandable given the relatively short duration of the study. 6 months was probably not long enough to convince them that a permanent, structural increase in working efficiency had been achieved. They needed longer to rule out the honeymoon effect.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  So, while the study was a success there has been an appropriately conservative forward-looking approach.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/4dayweek.io\/country\/iceland#:~:text=4%20Day%20Work%20Week%20in%20Iceland&#038;text=The%20trial%20involved%20about%202%2C500,hours%20or%20other%20work%20modifications.\">Predating the UK is Iceland\u2019s successful<\/a> <em>100:80:100<\/em> four-day week trial which took place between 2015 and 2019. And while the 4-day week is now prevalent in Iceland, they have had 9 careful years to embed it.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  We are seeing this willing but cautious approach to the <em>100:80:100 <\/em>4-day working week, being replicated in other countries, which further underlines the initial promise of this UK pilot study.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Portugal is one of the most recent countries to announce a trial of a <em>100:80:100<\/em> four-day week in June 2023. As a result of the successful trials, the four-day working week is gathering momentum: Wales is currently <a href=\"https:\/\/research.senedd.wales\/research-articles\/the-four-day-week-a-part-of-future-welsh-working-life\/\">debating a four-day working week trial<\/a>, and Scotland is going to be trialing a 4-day working week too.\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to implement your own 4-day working week trial<\/h2>\n<p>\n  If HR managers or people managers reading this are considering a <em>100:80:100<\/em> four-day week trial, how could you go about it? Here are three best practices we derived from the research document.\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1.\u00a0 Prep the team<\/h2>\n<p>\n  The work trial research report showed that implementation wasn\u2019t an overnight thing and participating companies typically required 2 months of preparation. This involved workshops, coaching, mentoring, developing HR metrics, and incorporating these into HR software systems so performance could be monitored.\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2.\u00a0 Flexibility of approach<\/h2>\n<p>\n  Apart from following the <em>100:80:100<\/em> principle, you don\u2019t need to be confined to a one-size-fits-all approach: participants followed a range of 4-day models, including classic, \u2018Friday off\u2019 models and \u2018annualised structures.\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3.\u00a0 HR data-driven approach<\/h2>\n<p>\n  There\u2019s too much at stake for this to be built on guesswork, the <em>100:80:100<\/em> 4-day working week pilot was driven by HR metrics, and, given the volume and complexity of the incumbent\u2019s data points it would need to be implemented using HR software.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <em>In general, the work trial was a resounding success, but it\u2019s clear that it does not work for all. However, given the likely benefits to employee well-being, engagement, and productivity, it could be a great way for your business to gain a competitive edge.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2022, 61 UK companies took part in the world\u2019s largest four-day working week trial. Here\u2019s what they learned \u2013 and advice on how you could try it yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hr-software"],"contentshake_article_id":"","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What were the findings of the UK 4-day working week trial? - Sense HR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 2022, 61 UK companies took part in the world\u2019s largest four-day working week trial. 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