A four-day week without loss of pay is being tested on dozens of UK companies.
Companies from various industries are involved, such as banking, hospitality, care and even animation studios.
They will still give their workers 100% of their pay, understanding that they maintain maximum productivity.
It is presented as the largest four-day weekly pilot conducted worldwide, and organizers are working with university researchers to measure the impact on staff productivity and well-being.
They will also study how it affects the environment and gender equality.
Juliet Schor, a professor of sociology at Boston College and a principal investigator for the pilot, said:
“Our research efforts will go deeper into all of this.”
The other universities involved are Cambridge and Oxford, while the organizers are 4 Day Week Global, in collaboration with the think tank Autonomy and the 4 Day Week UK Campaign.
Joe O’Connor, executive director of 4 Day Global Week, said the UK was “on top of a wave of global momentum behind the four-day week” as people got used to being away from the office during the pandemic.
However, talk of a four-day week in the UK precedes COVID, as Labor has pledged to introduce it in a decade if Jeremy Corbyn had led the party to victory in the 2019 general election .
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One of the companies involved in the lawsuit, which lasts six months, is Charity Bank.
Executive director Ed Siegel said the move to a four-day week “seems like a natural next step” after the pandemic.
“The 20th century concept of a five-day work week is no longer the best for 21st century businesses,” he said.
“We firmly believe that a four-day week with no pay or benefit changes will create a happier workforce and have an equally positive impact on business productivity, the customer experience and our social mission.”