'We think other firms could benefit from four-day working week'
A pioneering Devon firm, which has now adopted a four-day week has been outlining the initial results
Last updated 22nd Sep 2022
A Devon-based company, which was among the first here to bring in a four-day working week , says it's not surprised other firms are now reporting benefits.
Around 70 organisations are currently halfway through a six-month UK trial where staff are paid 100 per cent of their wages for 80 per cent of their previous hours.
Adrian Ferraro is director of Exeter-based ethical school trip provider 'STC Expeditions' - which is not part of the trial, but has already adopted the change after their own trial in 2020.
He said: "When we did the trial back at the beginning of 2020, just before the pandemic we were looking at some key performance indicators of numbers of emails and turnover and number of calls and such like and there was very little change to be honest.
"Certainly no discernible drop off and actually a few people increased performance or number of calls etc that they'd made.
"The overriding thing really was people felt a lot more balanced between work and home, they felt a lot less stressed, there was a much better approach to work life balance and we felt it was a real positive."
Research by the 4 Day Week Global found: "The indicative research being gathered by 4 Day Week Global reveals a general tenor of positive experiences alongside valuable lessons for some organisations that are striving to change decades of ingrained work cultures and systems.
"More than 70 organisations signed up for the six-month trial, which kicked off at the beginning of June and is being run by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with leading think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign, and researchers at Cambridge University, Boston College and Oxford University. More than 3,300 employees are getting a paid day off weekly through the course of the trial.
"88% of respondents stated that the four-day week is working ‘well’ for their business at this stage in the trial;
"46% of respondents say their business productivity has ‘maintained around the same level’, while 34% report that it has ‘improved slightly’, and 15% say it has ‘improved significantly;
"On how smooth the transition to a four-day week has been (with 5 being ‘extremely smooth’ and ‘1’ being ‘extremely challenging’), 29% of respondents selected ‘5’, 49% selected ‘4’ and 20% selected ‘3’;
"86% of respondents stated that at this juncture in the trial, they would be ‘extremely likely’ and or ‘likely’ to consider retaining the four-day week policy after the trial period."
There's a list of companies taking part in the trial, with locations, here |newtab)