Insights

The UK campaign group behind the four-day week has announced plans for a new six-month trial to promote flexible working options. 

The news follows a successful trial of the 4-day week in 2023 when 92% of companies participating continued the shorter week at the end of the trial. The campaign reported a 57% reduction in attrition and a 35% average increase in revenue for those who took part.

A separate controversial 15-month trial of a shorter working week at South Cambridgeshire District Council also reported positive outcomes.  Academics at the universities of Cambridge and Salford analysed the productivity of over 450 staff across 24 areas. They found the experiment resulted in improvements in 11 out of 24 areas, made little or no change in 11 areas, and decreased performance in two areas, including rent collection, which may have been impacted by the cost-of-living crisis.

Staff turnover fell by 39%, helping save £371,500 in a year, mostly on agency staff costs.

Regular household planning applications were decided about a week and a half earlier.

Approximately 15% more major planning application decisions were completed within the correct timescale compared with before.

The time to process changes to housing benefit and council tax benefit claims fell.

The new flexible working pilot launches in Autumn 2024 and is now open for applications. Employers who sign up for the pilot will trial a range of options, including flexible start and finish times, a nine-day fortnight, and compressed hours.

The extension of the four-day week campaign to include flexible working options shows that employees and employers need more options. There isn’t one approach that will suit every organisation or individual. Still, the results have already demonstrated that different ways of working can be just as valid and productive as a standard five-day working week.

Meanwhile, the draw of flexible working options for employees is clear. A 2023 Greenhouse survey of over 800 UK employees found that 77% would actively look for a new job or be willing to consider one if their company’s flexible work policies were to be reversed.

Joe Ryle, Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, said:

“As hundreds of British companies and one local council have already shown, a four-day week with no loss of pay can be a win-win for workers and employers.

“With a new Labour government, change is in the air and we hope to see employers embracing this change by signing up to our pilot.

“The 9-5, 5 day working week was invented 100 years ago and is no longer fit for purpose. We are long overdue an update.”

Here at Talent Insight Group, we follow a 4.5-day week and make the last Friday of each month a non-working day. This provides our team with a better approach to work-life balance, whilst raising productivity and maintaining our commitment to excellent client service.

Find more details on flexible working options and how they can be applied within your organisation with our free guide to the Future of Work.