The pilot, which will run for six months, involves 3,300 workers from 70 companies, ranging from financial service providers to a fish-and-chip restaurant.
During the program, workers receive 100% of their salary to work only 80% of their regular week, in exchange for promising to maintain 100% of their productivity.
The program is led by a non-profit organization 4 Day Week Global, Autonomy, a think tank and the 4 Day Week UK Campaign in collaboration with researchers from Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College .
Sienna O’Rourke, brand manager for Pressure Drop Brewing, a London-based independent brewery, told CNN Business that the company’s main goal was to improve the mental health and well-being of its employees.
“The pandemic [has] it made us think a lot about work and how people organize their lives, “he said.” We are doing this to improve the lives of our staff and be part of a progressive change in the world. “
Because the company manufactures and ships products, workers have less flexibility about when and where they work, O’Rourke said. But any difficulty navigating holidays and leave would be tackled as a team.
To date, Iceland had carried out the most important pilot of a shorter working week between 2015 and 2019, with 2,500 public sector workers involved in two major trials. These trials did not find a corresponding decrease in productivity among participants and a dramatic increase in employee well-being. Calls to shorten the working week have gained momentum in recent years in several countries. As millions of employees switched to remote work during the pandemic, reducing the time and costs of onerous travel, demands for more flexibility have only increased.
Government-backed trials will be held in Spain and Scotland later this year, the 4-Day Week campaign said in a press release.
Joe O’Connor, CEO of 4 Day Week Global, said workers have shown they can work “shorter and smarter.”
“As we emerge from the pandemic, more and more companies are recognizing that the new frontier for competition is quality of life, and that part-time, production-focused work is the vehicle to give them an edge. competitive, “he told the magazine. statement.
Researchers will measure the impact the new pattern of work will have on productivity levels, gender equality, the environment and worker well-being.