The world of work is changing and the UK has just done the largest ever trial of one of the most innovative and successful recent ideas: a four-day work week.
From June to December 2022, 61 organisations with nearly 3,000 workers piloted a four day working week – with no reduction in pay. Some 96% of workers loved it, and so did their employers – with 92% of the organisations continuing implementation beyond the six- month trial period.
At Oxford City Council, the Green Party has just secured a commitment to review the progress being made on the four-day work week from local and national organisations, which we hope will see the council piloting it in our own operations if we see the successes we believe we will.
To be clear, the four-day week isn’t about doing less work. It’s about working smarter and being more productive whilst at work – with the benefit of a day off for workers. Or as the CEO of one firm who tried it puts it, ‘Fundamentally, if you give people this incredible incentive of a whole day of their time a week, they are going to work really hard to make it work.’
All organisations discuss the problems and solutions with their staff upfront and plan it jointly. As the firms come from a wide range of sectors, each one can operationalise it in a different way. Some take Fridays off. Others might ‘buddy’ people up with the same skills to ensure that one covers for the other on their day off. Others might reduce working hours across the week. And the results really are astonishing – for workers, and for firms themselves.
A shorter working week lets workers have a life beyond their job: to pursue hobbies, spend more time with children, friends and families, and giving them extra capacity to volunteer for a good cause. Nearly 40% of workers said they were less stressed, 40% were sleeping better, and 60% said it was easier to balance work and home admin and responsibilities.
And happier workers can also mean happier employers. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that 12 million working days are lost a year due to anxiety and depression alone. Firms participating in the four-day week trial saw sickness dropping by more than 60%. The number of employees leaving the firm also dropped by nearly 60%, which saved firms significant costs in terms of hiring and training new employees. The initiative also helped with recruiting top talent – people want to work at firms with an innovative and employee-focused approach. The other crucial factor for firms is that revenues did not fall, because productivity rose to compensate for the reduction in hours.
The trial also saw positive externalities which benefited the wider community, such as a reduction in transport emissions and congestion, higher levels of community engagement, and a drop in childcare costs with men being able to spend a more equal share of time with their children.
We know that the UK has fallen behind many other rich nations in the amount of value created per worker per year. We also know that in general, countries with longer hours are generally not the most productive, and the robust data from this trial gives us an indication as to why. We also know that those workers most likely to face stress and other mental health challenges are those already disadvantaged in other ways. Put simply, happier workers do better, and gifting people with more leisure time means they are more productive when they do work.
We are excited that Oxford City Council recognises the potential in the idea. And we hope that we will be able to put ourselves forward as a pioneer, which will maximise the benefits of trialling a four-day work week: happier, more productive staff and associated benefits of recruitment and retention.
Cllr Emily Kerr is a Green Party councillor on Oxford City Council.
