A UK study shows work intensity remains lower and job satisfaction is higher during a four-day workweek.
The majority of companies in the United Kingdom that took part in the world’s largest study trialling a four-day workweek have made the policy permanent, with 100 per cent of managers and CEOs saying it had a “positive” impact on the organisation.
Some 61 organisations took part in the six-month pilot in 2022. The trial results were announced on Thursday with 89 per cent of companies still using the four-day workweek a year later and over half of the firms making the change permanent.
The study also showed that work intensity remains lower and job satisfaction is higher than before the pilot began with almost all the employees (96 per cent) saying their personal life had benefited, and 86 per cent said they felt they performed better at work.
We started doing that literally as the first Covid lockdown hit. We always worked 36 hour weeks, but we just compressed them into four 9-hour days instead of five 7.2-hour days (which isn’t quite what these trials were doing, but it’s close enough that we’re not complaining).
Honestly, it’s amazing. It really doesn’t feel much longer to be working, and having a three day weekend seems to be making everyone happy.
Bonus for me is that there’s a handful of people that want to stick with a five hour day, and so as part of a support team, one of us had to be available on Fridays for them, so I actually get Wednesday off instead. So a two day week, a one day ‘weekend’, a two day week, then Saturday and Sunday.
It’s been great for mental health as well as scheduling holidays or just getting stuff done. Work life balance has never been better.
The only downside is that job hunting is now really hard, as anyone that wants me in an office five days a week can jog on.
A job I had a while back was 3 x 12 hour shifts and I still miss that to this day. You spent 3 days of eat, sleep and work but it was totally worth it for all that extra time off to actually live my damn life.
I was doing 4 x 10 hour days before covid and got made redundant. Now I have to do 5 days a week and I fucking hate it. It is so shit only having two miserable days off and even after 3 years of doing it I’m still not fully used to it. It is such a miserable existence :(
