British companies adopt a 4-day working week

Mexico.- In United kingdom More than half of companies have already made the permanent switch to Four working days a weekhaving begun as a pilot program in which companies allowed their employees to work a shorter workweek.

According to the study he conducted independenceA group of experts tested workers from 61 organizations in the UK for six months in 2022 They worked 80% of their regular working hours, with the same salary, in exchange for a commitment to deliver 100% of their regular work.

The experiment was conducted with a non-profit organization 4 days a week And the campaign 4 days a week UK In cooperation with researchers from universities Cambridge and Oxfordand the Boston College.

However, the companies that participated in this study reported a Great and lasting success So, in one year, 89% of those companies still stuck to that policy, and at least 51% made the work week permanent.

“The results at one year are excellent. Overall results have been maintained, and in some cases continue to improve. Physical and mental health and work-life balance are much better than they were at six months. Improvements in fatigue and life satisfaction have remained stable.” Job satisfaction and sleep problems decreased somewhat, but most of the original improvement remained.

“The key point is that the strong results achieved over six months are not due to new or short-term effects. These effects are real and long-term,” he said. Juliet Shoreprofessor of sociology at Boston College.

Likewise, Will Strong, Research Director at Autonomy, highlighted this Reducing working hours has been extremely beneficial for employees and their companies.

“Improvements in physical and mental health, work-life balance and overall life satisfaction, as well as the reduction in burnout detected at the end of the trial, were maintained after one year,” he commented.

The self-governing report also highlights approaches organizations have used to maintain a four-day working week, including reviewing rules around meetings, work communications and setting priorities.

“It has become clear from this study that the four-day working week is not just a fad: businesses across the UK have been able to make it work,” the authors wrote.