
[ad_1]
Hundreds of UK companies have signed up for a permanent four-day working week without loss of pay for all their employees, marking a milestone in a campaign to fundamentally change Britain’s approach to work.
The 100 companies employ 2,600 staff – a tiny fraction of the UK’s working population – but the 4 Day Week campaign group hopes they will lead to a bigger shift.
Proponents of the four-day week say the five-day pattern is a hangover from a previous economic era. They argue that a four-day week will make companies improve their productivity, meaning they can produce the same output using fewer hours. For some early adopters this policy has also proven to be a useful way to attract and retain employees.
The two biggest companies that have signed up are Atom Bank and global marketing company Evin, which each have around 450 staff in the UK. They have been recognized by the four-day week campaign, which means they have demonstrated that they have actually reduced workers’ hours rather than forcing them to work longer days.
Adam Ross, Avin’s chief executive, said the adoption of the four-day week was “one of the most transformative initiatives we’ve seen in the company’s history.
“Over the past year and a half, we’ve not only seen a tremendous increase in employee wellness and well-being but, as well, our customer service and relationships, as well as talent relationships and retention, have benefited.”
The UK campaign is co-ordinating the world’s largest pilot scheme for around 70 companies, employing around 3,300 workers, to adopt the four-day week in a trial with researchers from Cambridge and Oxford universities, Boston College and the think tank Autonomy.
In September, 88% of those companies said in a survey midway through the trial that the four-day week was working “well” for their business at that stage of the trial. About 95% of the companies surveyed said that productivity has either remained the same or improved since the introduction.
Joe Ryle, UK director of the campaign, said adoption of the four-day week was picking up despite companies facing a prolonged recession.
“We want to see the four-day week with no loss of pay becoming the normal way of working in this country by the end of the decade so we aim to sign up many more companies over the next few years,” he said.
“With many businesses struggling to keep up with 10% inflationary pay rises, we are starting to see increasing evidence that a four-day week with no loss of pay is being offered as an alternative solution.”
Most companies that have officially adopted the four-day week are in the service sector, such as technology, events or marketing companies. However, the campaign said some manufacturing and construction employers have also signed up.
Some historians have said that the debate over the introduction of the four-day week has many similarities to the 19th-century campaign for a two-day week.
[ad_2]
Source link