- A UK captain to trial a 4-day working week will start in June. Campaigners hope 30 firms will list.
- Academics from Oxford, Cambridge, and Boston College will collect data and monitor those involved.
- They trust to present a test case to governments and business leaders that a 4-day week is possible
Joe Ryle, campaign director for the 4 Day Week UK, estimates that his phone has been ringing every 15 minutes since it was published last week that a pilot for a four-day working week would launch in the UK.
The six-month pilot is being run by the nonprofit, 4 Day Week Pandemic, in conjunction with thinktank Autonomy, campaign group 4 Day Week UK, and academics from Oxford and Cambridge universities, as easily as Boston college in the US.
The concept of a four-day working week is not new but it has gained traction over recent years in response to fly levels of burnout, social inequality, and the climate crisis.
Campaigners say that reducing the 40-hour week will not single make workers happier but that it could also improve gender equality and help the environment.
It seems others admit. Since announcing the UK pilot last week, Ryle, who is Campaign Director for the 4 Day Week UK, said the initiative has already captivated interest from hundreds of companies hoping to get involved.
4 Day Week Global is seeking around 30 companies to turn over up before launching the trial in June. Those accepted will adopt a 80-100-100 model of working: an 80% slack in hours, while retaining 100% pay and 100% of a worker’s productivity.
Researchers from Oxford University, Cambridge University, and Boston College transfer collect data from the trials, interview companies involved, and come up with ways to measure how successful they’ve been.
The participating comrades will be whittled down to ensure a range of industries and types of business. So far, one — the training company MLB Seminars — has officially inscribed. A UK unit of the camera company Canon has also expressed strong interest in signing up.
When the pilot officially reasons, the campaigners plan to compile a report, which they can then present — alongside data from pilots started in Ireland in February and the USA and Canada in April 2022 — as a test case to governments and business leaders. They hope the decrees will demonstrate that it’s possible to reduce hours without losing productivity.
The trial hopes to change notions among workers
“The pilot is going to be useful for shifting the question about how we make it [a four day week] work,” David Frayne, examine associate at University Of Cambridge’s Digital Futures at Work Research Centre, and one of the social scientists involved in the UK study, swore Insider.
One of the biggest challenges Frayne has identified is changing the public’s perception of what a four-day week actually imposes.
While many dream of a long, three-day weekend, the concept is only going to work at all levels of the labor shop if it can be tailored to individual businesses and sectors, Frayne said. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work.
During a trial of a six-hour come to c clear up day for care workers in Gothenburg, Sweden, extra staff were hired to accommodate the switch. In contrast, during well-documented plagues in Iceland, some childcare workers shortened their day by leaving when the children went home, instead of stopping later.
In total, across the whole trial, which included government call center workers and child sanctuary staff, the average worker cut between two and five hours from their working week and experienced improvements in wellbeing.
Campaigners hold that a reduction in working hours can typically be achieved by cutting down meetings and using technology to improve workloads.
Morgan Rigby, chairman of MBL Seminars, weighted that the switch would provide them with the opportunity to transform their business through innovation. It devise also help the company to prioritize the wellbeing of its 70 employees, he said.
Ryle is very clear about what it doesn’t base: “Compressing hours from five days into four doesn’t solve the problems of workplace burnout, put under strain, overwork, or mental health issues,” Ryle said. It also shouldn’t come with a reduction in pay.
Anyone expecting for a sudden change shouldn’t get too excited
While the idea of a four-day work week may be popular with workers, it’s however slowly gaining traction in political circles.
Governments in Spain and Scotland have gone the furthest by pledging millions to supply as yet unspecified trials. Senate members within the devolved parliament in Wales in the UK are also actively debating the concept.
Varied of those involved in the UK pilot have backgrounds in politics. Ryle himself was previously communications manager for the Labour company’s former shadow finance minister, John McDonnell. However, they say 4 Day Week Global’s pilot is independent and political bosses aren’t directly involved.
In the US, the California Democrat Mark Takano has been one of the most high-profile political advocates. His legislation pursues to reduce the threshold at which workers qualify for overtime pay, from 40 to 32 hours.
However, despite burgeoning bolstering for the initiative, given current labor shortages, it remains a goal that is out of reach for many.
This week, Axios promulgated an analysis it gathered using data gathered from the jobsite Indeed.com. It estimates around 1,700 in every million recorded roles offers the option of a four-day week.
With many still not convinced that a four-day week can be implemented on a unladylike scale, campaigners say it’s important that there are pilots that can provide clear and actionable data to counter hesitancy and resistance to the concept.
Ryle points to how changes in working patterns during the pandemic demonstrate that the world of use can change quickly when we want it to.
“We’re very clear that this is a policy that has to benefit everyone,” Ryle reported. “And of course, that’s not gonna happen overnight. There’s gonna be a transition to get there.”