UK companies sought for 4-day week pilot

A global four-day week campaign has announced that it is actively recruiting companies in the United Kingdom to join its pilot programme.

The 4 Day Week Global six-month pilot, run in partnership with leading UK think tank Autonomy, Cambridge University, Oxford University, Boston College and the 4 Day Week UK campaign, will include business support, advice and mentoring to help companies roll out the scheme across their workplaces.

In Ireland, for instance, the campaign is backed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. They have funded a research partnership to assess the economic, social and environmental impacts of a four-day working week in a specifically Irish context.

Researchers involved in the pilot will examine the impact of a shorter working week on private sector companies and public sector employers and explore the impact of a shorter working week on productivity, wellbeing, job satisfaction, environmental footprint and household division of labour.

Already companies in countries ranging from Ireland, the United States and Canada to Australia, New Zealand and Israel have launched pilots.

The news com as Atom Bank’s CEO says the group’s new four-day working week has his full support. He said the preliminary results of a three-month trial so far have been encouraging, showing improvements in most areas, including short-term sickness and customer complaints. A poll of Atom’s staff also showed they are feeling less stressed, with 86% now looking forward to going to work each day, up from 77%.

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