2024-05-13 19:04:50
The concept of a shorter four-day work week is not new, but in the years around the pandemic and especially after it, it gradually began to turn from a dream and an experiment into a reality.
The biggest proof that this new model of work is already starting to take hold is the already long-concluded largest experiment of its kind in Britain, about which CNN reports.
As part of this test, between June and December 2022, employees in 61 organizations and companies on the Island were allowed to work 80 per cent of normal working hours, provided they completed 100 per cent of their normal work.
Nearly a year and a half after the end of this experiment, the majority of companies, or exactly 89 percent, that participated in it, still allow their employees to work in this way, and more than half (51 percent) have fully formalized this working model, according to a report from one of the organizers of the test.
The survey was distributed a few days ago by the think tank “Autonomy”, which organized the test together with the non-governmental organizations “4 Day Week Global” and “4 Day Week UK Campaign” and researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, as well as Boston College.
The report unequivocally indicates that reduced working hours have been extremely beneficial for both employees and companies, writes BTA. At the end of the test period, employees felt better physically and mentally, enjoyed a better work-life balance, and were generally more satisfied.
Managers in 28 of the organizations that participated in the experiment indicated that it had positive effects on their companies as well. Staff turnover has decreased, hiring new staff has been made easier, and employees have been performing better.
Nearly half of the companies that participated in the experiment are from the marketing and advertising, professional services, and non-profit sectors. The rest are scattered in almost all other industries, incl. construction, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, culture and entertainment.
The apparently successful experiment will undoubtedly put even more pressure on employers to adopt more flexible working hours.
Meanwhile, a new study conducted by the CNBC/Generation Lab and cited by Business Insider found that young people between the ages of 18 and 34 are firmly in favor of a four-day work week. 81 percent of them believe that it will increase their productivity, and only 19 percent are of the opposite opinion.
Another study commissioned by Newsweek magazine and conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies among 4,000 working Americans reached similar conclusions. 63 percent of them call for a move to a four-day working week, and 46 percent believe it will increase their productivity.
Among the different age groups, young people are the strongest in favor of a shorter working week. 74 percent of them explicitly state that they would like to work only four days a week, and only 8 percent are against it.
In the four-day working week, the working hours per week drop from 40 to 32, but in principle, companies require that the volume of work done does not decrease. The concept is being tested not only in the UK but also in the US, Ireland and other countries. In the US, there are already congressmen who advocate the idea. According to Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, “the sad reality is that Americans work longer hours than many other wealthy nations.” According to him, this needs to change and the solution is to adopt a four-day work week.
However, such a change is not suitable for all workplaces, according to experts. “Compressing a certain amount of work into fewer working hours in some sectors can cause burnout,” says Michael Bains, co-founder and CEO of Clarify Capital. Adopting a four-day work week is certainly a good and sensible thing to do, but it must be handled wisely and carefully in imposing it, he concludes.