{"id":12860,"date":"2024-04-18T12:04:26","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T09:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/poulantzas.gr\/?post_type=yliko&#038;p=12860"},"modified":"2026-01-12T11:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T09:06:25","slug":"four-day-workweek-results-of-the-pilot-trial-in-the-united-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"yliko","link":"https:\/\/poulantzas.gr\/en\/yliko\/four-day-workweek-results-of-the-pilot-trial-in-the-united-kingdom\/","title":{"rendered":"Four-Day Workweek: Results of the Pilot Trial in the United Kingdom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"156\" data-end=\"515\">The <strong data-start=\"160\" data-end=\"190\">Nikos Poulantzas Institute<\/strong>, aiming to contribute to the discussion on the future of work and within the framework of its participation in the <em data-start=\"306\" data-end=\"334\">European Work-time Network<\/em>\u00b9, publishes in Greek the study released by the research organization <strong data-start=\"404\" data-end=\"416\">Autonomy<\/strong> on the six-month pilot trial of the four-day workweek in the private sector in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"517\" data-end=\"864\">This pilot trial is the largest conducted worldwide to date. It involved 61 companies and approximately 2,900 employees, running from June to December 2022 with the support of Autonomy, 4 Day Week Global, the UK\u2019s 4 Day Week Campaign, and specialized academic researchers. Notably, most participating companies were small, with up to 25 employees.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"866\" data-end=\"1103\">The report, published in February 2023, provides a detailed evaluation of the pilot trial and presents the highly positive findings of research conducted by Autonomy and research teams from Boston College and the University of Cambridge.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1105\" data-end=\"1643\">It should be noted that companies were not required to adopt a strict model for reducing working hours or implementing a four-day week. The only requirements were that salaries remain unchanged and that a \u201csubstantial\u201d reduction in working hours take place. Depending on the sector, organizational challenges, departmental structures, and workplace culture, different models were developed, including traditional Friday-off schedules, rotating schedules, decentralized models, annualized schedules, and models tied to specific conditions.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1645\" data-end=\"1683\">Key findings from the study include:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"1684\" data-end=\"3331\">\n<li data-start=\"1684\" data-end=\"1866\">\n<p data-start=\"1686\" data-end=\"1866\">The trial was overwhelmingly successful. Of the 61 companies, 56 continued with the four-day week model (92%), and 18 of these reported that the policy change would be permanent.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1867\" data-end=\"2181\">\n<p data-start=\"1869\" data-end=\"2181\">Major benefits of reduced working hours were observed in employee health and well-being. Pre- and post-trial data show that 39% of employees experienced reduced stress and 71% reported lower levels of burnout. Anxiety, fatigue, and sleep problems also decreased, while both mental and physical health improved.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2182\" data-end=\"2481\">\n<p data-start=\"2184\" data-end=\"2481\">Work-life balance indicators improved throughout the pilot. Employees found it easier to balance work with family and social responsibilities\u201454% reported better management of household tasks\u2014while satisfaction with household finances, interpersonal relationships, and time management increased.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2482\" data-end=\"2642\">\n<p data-start=\"2484\" data-end=\"2642\">60% of employees reported improved capacity to combine paid work with caregiving responsibilities, and 62% found it easier to balance work with social life.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2643\" data-end=\"3022\">\n<p data-start=\"2645\" data-end=\"3022\">Business performance indicators also showed positive effects. Participating companies generally maintained revenue levels throughout the pilot, with an average increase of 1.4%, weighted by company size. Compared to a similar period in previous years, companies reported an average revenue growth of 35%, demonstrating that reduced working hours did not impede stable growth.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"3023\" data-end=\"3100\">\n<p data-start=\"3025\" data-end=\"3100\">Staff turnover decreased significantly, with a 57% drop during the pilot.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"3101\" data-end=\"3331\">\n<p data-start=\"3103\" data-end=\"3331\">For many participants, the positive impact of the four-day week outweighed monetary considerations. Fifteen percent of employees stated they would not accept a return to a five-day workweek, regardless of financial compensation.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"3333\" data-end=\"3541\">A follow-up study by Autonomy (February 2024) found that 89% of the companies continue the reduced working hours policy, and 51% have permanently adopted the four-day workweek. For more information, see here.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3548\" data-end=\"3858\">The <em data-start=\"3554\" data-end=\"3582\">European Work-time Network<\/em>, evolved from the <em data-start=\"3601\" data-end=\"3656\">European Network for the Fair Sharing of Working Time<\/em>, advocates policies for reducing working hours as a means to achieve more sustainable forms of production, more meaningful jobs, and a fairer distribution of wealth. See also the Network\u2019s Manifesto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Nikos Poulantzas Institute, aiming to contribute to the discussion on the future of work and within the framework of its participation in the European Work-time Network\u00b9, publishes in Greek [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":9024,"template":"","categories":[523],"class_list":["post-12860","yliko","type-yliko","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","category-main-thematiki-3-society","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poulantzas.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yliko\/12860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poulantzas.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yliko"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poulantzas.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/yliko"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poulantzas.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poulantzas.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poulantzas.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poulantzas.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}