In what has formed a major debacle in the public domain, the world’s biggest four-day work week trial has begun in the United Kingdom.
According to official records, over 3,300 employees at 70 UK companies are participating in the four-day work week trial which has begun with no loss of pay. It was clarified that the pilot program will last for six months.
It is imperative to note that the companies which are participating in the trial range from financial services providers to a fish-and-chip restaurant. The trial is based on the 100:80:100 model. It implies that all the workers will receive 100 percent salaries by giving their 80 percent time and will also maintain 100 percent of their productivity.
Remarkably, the pilot program is being masterminded by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with the thinktank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week Campaign, and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College, reported The Guardian.
Harping on the development, a professor of sociology at Boston College and lead researcher on the pilot, Juliet Schor said “We’ll be analysing how employees respond to having an extra day off, in terms of stress and burnout, job and life satisfaction, health, sleep, energy use, travel and many other aspects of life”.
According to reports, the government-backed four-day week trials are billed to start in Spain and Scotland later this year.
It could be recalled that the biggest pilot of a shorter working week was first conducted by Iceland between 2015 and 2019. Around 2,500 public sector workers participated in these two trials. No drop in productivity among participants was found.
In recent weeks, demand for shorter working weeks increased in several countries. Recall that during the pandemic, companies adopted the work-from-home model which reduced troublesome commuting time and even costs. Evidently, calls for greater flexibility have gained momentum since the pandemic.
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