If I could go back in time and give some advice to my younger self, I would definitely tell her to enjoy the weekends more.
Now that I’m an adult, the weekends fly by. It’s basically Friday evening, then you blink and suddenly it’s Sunday night and you’ve got the Sunday scaries.
Good luck trying to get anything done around the house on the weekend. After work on Friday, you’re too tired, then Saturday, you’re trying to cram everything – hobbies, catch-ups with friends, chores, errands – into one day so you can still have another day to relax. In short, weekends can kind of be stressful trying to do it all. It would be nice if instead of a five-day work week, there was a four-day one instead.
Well, if you happen to live and work in the UK, then you’re in luck because 100 companies just signed up for a permanent four-day work week. The best part is, there is no loss of pay to their employees!
According to The 4 Day Week Campaign, “The 9-5, 5 day working week is outdated and no longer fit for purpose. We’re campaigning for a four-day, 32 hour working week with no loss of pay which would benefit workers, employers, the economy, our society and our environment.”
Personally, I would have to agree with this idea that the 9-5, 5 days a week is archaic as many of us have to be a two-person working household. A four-day workweek just seems so much better suited to a work-life balance that leaves time for the “life admin” stuff we need to get done.
So far, two of the biggest companies to sign on to this new arrangement are Atom Bank and global marketing company Awin – both of whom have roughly 450 members of staff in the UK. According to Entrepreneur, Adam Ross, Awin’s chief executive, said that adopting the four-day work week was “one of the most transformative initiatives we’ve seen in the history of the company.”
Ross added, “Over the course of the last year and a half, we have not only seen a tremendous increase in employee wellness and wellbeing but concurrently, our customer service and relations, as well as talent relations and retention also have benefited.”
Back in June 2022, The 4 Day Week Campaign first launched its 6-month pilot scheme, during which roughly 70 companies – and about 3,000 workers – tested out the scheme. Then, the results were analyzed. In a recent survey, it was found that 46% of participants stated their business productivity “maintained around the same level,” while 34% reported that it has “improved slightly” and 5% claimed it “improved significantly.”
According to The Guardian, the UK campaign director, Joe Ryle, stated, “We want to see a four-day week with no loss of pay become the normal way of working in this country by the end of the decade so we are aiming to sign up many more companies over the next few years.”
The Times reported that a survey conducted by the Henley Business School at the University of Reading found that about 65% of businesses claimed to have adopted a four-day work week for some or all of their staff back in 2021. But, these companies have also shared that they’ve saved about £18,300 a year on average.
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But it’s not just the UK that is going for the 4-day work week. Other European countries are as well. In fact, earlier this year the Mayor of Valencia in Spain made the announcement that there will be a one-month pilot of the 4-day work week for the whole city starting in Spring 2023.
An economist and policy advisor in the regional government of Valencia, Joan Sanchis, shared that expectations of the a better work-life balance for employees while also helping to reduce work-related stress. It has also been argued that there could be an overall decline in the carbon footprint given the work-related travel would be reduced.
Meanwhile, Dagný Aradóttir Pind of the BSRB public service trade union federation in Iceland backed up Sanchis’ remarks, sharing that since the 4-day week scheme was brought to Iceland in 2021, it has been very successful.
As for the UK, Gary Conroy, the CEO of skincare company 5 Squirrels – who was one of the 70 companies initially trialed – shared that the reduction in working time without wage cuts has actually led to employees becoming more productive, making less errors, and working together better, according to CNN.
According to The Guardian, the CEO of 4 Day Week Global, Joe O’Connor, “The momentum behind the four-day week continues to build, and this is borne out by the incredible response we have received from UK employers to our pilot program.”
O’Connor added, “Increasingly, managers and executives are embracing a new model of work which focuses on quality of outputs, not quantity of hours. Workers have emerged from the pandemic with different expectations around what constitutes a healthy life/work balance.”
What do you think of the 4-day workweek? Would you like to see in implemented in your country? Let us know!