Search Results for: four day week

Four day work week campaigners launch new project in wake of successful pilot

Four day work week campaigners launch new project in wake of successful pilot

Campaigners advocating for a four day work week are gearing up for a fresh pilot project aimed at promoting flexible working practices.Campaigners advocating for a four day work week are gearing up for a fresh pilot project aimed at promoting flexible working practices. The initiative is set to launch in November, with participating companies currently being invited to sign up. The findings from this project will be presented to the government in the summer of 2025. The push for a four-day working week, notably with no reduction in pay, has gained significant traction in recent years, particularly following the Covid-19 pandemic which reshaped workplace expectations. In 2022, a previous UK pilot saw 61 companies participate, and 54 of them continued the practice a year and a half later. Similar initiatives have also been conducted in Germany, Portugal, Spain, and Iceland. More →

Campaigners encourage firms to explore four-day Week with ‘4ugust’ initiative

Campaigners encourage firms to explore four-day Week with ‘4ugust’ initiative

The campaign group behind the UK’s four-day week trial is urging companies to try it out for themselves this August.The campaign group behind the UK’s four-day week trial is urging companies to try it out for themselves this August. The newly launched initiative, dubbed ‘4ugust’ (but of course) is a joint effort by the 4 Day Week Campaign and think tank Autonomy, with plans for it to become an annual event. Last month, the organisations released research findings based on their 2022 trial involving 3,000 workers. Around 90 percent of the 61 participating employers continue to operate on a four-day workweek. More →

Government issues formal warning to council over four-day working week

Government issues formal warning to council over four-day working week

A formal notice has been issued to South Cambridgeshire District Council over its four-day working week trialA formal notice has been issued to South Cambridgeshire District Council over its four-day working week trial, because the UK government says it wants ‘to ensure taxpayers’ money is well spent’. A Best Value Notice, issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, formally sets out government concerns around the council and whether the trial offers value for money, including the removal of up to a fifth of the authority’s capacity. It requests evidence on the trial to consider whether the council is meeting its Best Value Duty, including on: staffing; costs; service delivery; resident feedback; overall performance since the start of the trial; should a four-day working week continue. More →

Third of firms expect the four-day week to become a reality ‘for most’ in the next ten years

Third of firms expect the four-day week to become a reality ‘for most’ in the next ten years

A man walking a dog to illustrate the four day week giving people more controlA third of respondent organisations (34 percent) to a CIPD poll think the four-day week will become a reality in the UK for most workers within the next ten years. However, only a small minority of firms have moved towards the four-day week to date by reducing hours without reducing pay for their employees, or plan to do this over the next three years. One in ten (10 percent) organisations report they have reduced working hours without reducing pay for the whole or a significant part of their workforce over the last five years, although of these, under half of employers (42 percent) did so as a result of the furlough scheme. More →

Four-day week pilot met with overwhelming approval at halfway point

Four-day week pilot met with overwhelming approval at halfway point

four-day weekAt the halfway point of a six-month pilot programme of a four-day week in the United Kingdom, results so far indicate that the idea has been backed by an overwhelming majority of those companies taking part, with many already saying the move will be permanent. A poll found that 88 percent believed the trial was working ‘well’ for their business. Just under half (46 percent) of respondents said their business productivity had ‘maintained around the same level’, while 34 percent said that it had ‘improved slightly’, and 15 percent said it had ‘improved significantly’. More →

Demand for a four-day week continues to grow

Demand for a four-day week continues to grow

four-day weekAccording to a new report from ADP exploring employees’ attitudes towards the current world of work, six-in-ten (60 percent) UK workers would like more flexibility as to when they work, such as condensing hours into a four-day week. This number increased to two-thirds (67 percent) in Greater London. The report claims that this desire for great flexibility comes at a time when there is a mental health “ticking timebomb” in workplaces. Over half (51 percent) of men and 45 percent of women believe that their work is suffering due to their poor mental health. This is leading to over a quarter (29 percent) of workers actively trying to change their job and/or move into another industry. More →

Four-day working week can improve wellbeing and reduce social inequality

Four-day working week can improve wellbeing and reduce social inequality

four day working weekResearch from the University of Kent has shown how a national four-day working week can positively impact workers and their families’ wellbeing, improve social cohesion and reduce social inequality. In a paper published by the Journal of Social Policy, Professor Heejung Chung from Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research discusses how a shorter working week can help tackle issues by giving workers the ‘right to time’, shifting a balance between work and non-work activities in daily life. More →

Four day working week would still allow people to complete their work

Four day working week would still allow people to complete their work

Ahead of daylight savings this weekend, The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated has released part two of a global survey examining how employees across eight nations view their relationship with work and life, asking the simple question, “What would you do with more time?” These results from The Workforce Institute at Kronos and Future Workplace came from a survey of nearly 3,000 workers across the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Mexico and the US look at the rationale for a four day working week.

More →

Four day working week could become a reality soon, claims report

Four day working week could become a reality soon, claims report

A four-day working week could become a reality this century, according to the general secretary of the Trade Union Congress and a new TUC report. In a key speech to the TUC’s annual congress set to be delivered later today, Frances O’Grady will call for firms to use technology in a way to improve the lives of workers and cut the number of hours they spend working. However, the union also concedes that it may take government intervention for this to happen, given the way technology has encouraged the extension of working time over past few decades.

More →

Could a four-day week help improve UK productivity?

Could a four-day week help improve UK productivity?

Over half (61 percent) of office workers believe they’d improve their performance levels if they worked a four-day week; and 40 percent believe they would be more productive working remotely. This is according to new research which claims that UK productivity has fallen dramatically, with one in three (31 percent) office workers admitting they are unproductive for a huge two hours every day. The report, commissioned by office products firm Fellowes, argues that despite being the fifth largest economy in the world, the UK sits 15th in the productivity table, lagging behind the likes of Sweden (31 hours p/w), Denmark (27.2 hours p/w) and Norway (27.3 p/w) – who all work, on average, less hours per week than Brits (32 hours p/w). As a third of workers are essentially working a six-hour day, many believe it’s time to look towards Scandinavian countries like Sweden – who recently trialled a 6-hour working day – where employees have more flexibility to choose when and where they work.  More →

What’s so wrong with being slaves to the rhythm of the working week?

What’s so wrong with being slaves to the rhythm of the working week?

we need to rethink our attitude to the working week, and that shouldn’t mean replacing one rigid approach with anotherOne of the most familiar ways we measure time has its roots in a famous instance of daydreaming. The story goes that in 1583 a young student at the University of Pisa called Galileo Galilei was daydreaming in the pews while his fellow students were dutifully reciting their prayers. He noticed that one of the altar lamps was swaying back and forth and even as its energy dissipated, the arc of each swing slowed so that each took the same amount of time as the last, measured against his own pulse. More →

AI could save the public sector millions of hours of time each week, claims report

AI could save the public sector millions of hours of time each week, claims report

A new report from Microsoft argues AI could save more than four hours per week on administrative tasks - per staff member across all public sectorsA new report commissioned by Microsoft claims that the scale of administration required of the UK’s public sector is drawing front line workers away from delivering frontline services, and impacting the motivation, engagement and even mental health of large proportions of the public workforce. The research, developed by Dr Chris Brauer, Director of Innovation at Goldsmiths University and Symmetry features in a new report from Microsoft, Harnessing the Power of AI for the Public Sector and argues AI could save more than four hours per week on administrative tasks per staff member across all public sectors. More →