UK Four-day Work Week Revolution: At least 200 companies in the United Kingdom have signed up for a permanent four-day working week for all their employees without any loss of pay. The move that is said as “ground-breaking” by many has over 5,000 employees in sectors like charities, marketing and technology, reports The Guardian quoting the 4 Day Week Foundation.
Joe Ryle, the foundation’s campaign director spoke to the English daily claiming that the five-day work model is “outdated” and “no longer fit for purpose.” Ryle further said: “9-5, five-day work week was invented 100 years ago and is no longer fit for purpose. We are long overdue for an update.”
He continued that four-week days will give employees more than 50 per cent free time giving them freedom to live happier and more fulfilling lives. According to him, four work weeks and no reduction in pay can be a win-win solution for employees and companies.
Among the 200 companies, 30 firms are from marketing, advertising and press relations and have adopted the new model, followed by 29 organisations from charity, NGO and social care industry, 24 in technology, software and IT and 22 companies in the business, consulting and management sectors.
According to the English daily, the step will help companies attract and retain employees and improve productivity by creating the same output for less number of hours.
Back in 2022, the 4 Day Week Campaign in the UK was a pilot scheme involving about 70 companies, to shift to the four-day week in a trial with researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, Boston College and think-tank Autonomy.
At the middle of the trial, in September, 88 per cent of those companies informed that the shift to a four-day week was working well, and about 95% of the surveyed companies, speaking about the impact on productivity, said it had either remained the same or improved since the policy was implemented.
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