UK companies testing a four-day workweek found success. What are the pros and cons?
You know that feeling when you show up to work Friday morning at 8 a.m., but your brain is fried from endless meetings so you stare blankly at your computer screen thinking of your weekend plans?
It’s a feeling dozens of companies are seeking to avoid after participating in the world’s largest trial of a four-day workweek.
What’s the history of the workweek?
By the mid-1800s, workers were commonly putting in 70-hour, six-day weeks.
“Industrialization was radically transforming the nature of work, drawing in not only millions of immigrants and former slaves into the world of wage work, but also former subsistence farmers,” Joel Suarez, a labor historian and assistant professor at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, told Sidekick.
In 1886, more than 300,000 industrial workers across the country went on strike to demand an eight-hour work day. In the “Haymarket Affair” in Chicago, many workers and police were wounded or killed.
The U.S. government started tracking hours in 1890, finding the average time worked by manufacturing employees was 100 hours. From there, in1916, Congress passed the Adamson Act. That law established an eight-hour day for interstate railroad workers.
The Ford Motor Company began testing a shortened workweek from six to five days in 1922, with the five-day, 40 hour, week becoming permanent four years later.
In 1938, Congress limited the workweek to 44 hours with the passing of the Fair Labor Standards Act, signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the New Deal. Two years later, Congress amended the act to lower the limit to 40 hours.
Now, demand or the four-day week has picked up following the pandemic and in the wake of the Great Resignation.
What did the trial find?
The trial, organized by an advocacy group, 4 Day Week Global, collaborating with a research group, Autonomy, included around 2,900 workers from 61 companies. The companies had to maintain 100% for their employees with a “meaningful” reduction in work time.
The report found that 92% of the companies are continuing with a four-day workweek; 18 confirmed a permanent change.
Employees who participated were less stressed, had reduced levels of burnout, and decreased sleep issues. Mental and physical health, along with measures of work-life balance, for the workers improved. The number of resignations also dropped.
No amount of money would entice 15% of employees to return to a five-day schedule now that they were used to four, the study found. Almost a third of employees would require a 26% to 50% pay raise.
Revenue from the companies stayed nearly the same during the trial, but compared to previous years, they reported increases of 35% on average.
Why are companies hesitant?
Skeptics of the four-day workweek believe productivity would decrease eventually.
The four-day workweek may not work for all industries or workers, such as those in restaurants, retail, law enforcement or hospitals. For professions that operate almost continuously, a four-day week would require managers to hire additional staff.
Assistant professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania Michael Parke said a four-day week risks increasing the wealth gap between rich and poor.
Plus, stress levels could also increase — as can happen anytime there’s change in the workplace. In the trial, about two-thirds of workers didn’t register an increase in their work intensity. However, a small number expressed concern about their workload, with some describing a battle to get through their to-do lists or working into the evenings to accomplish their tasks.
This story was originally published March 7, 2023 at 8:54 AM with the headline "UK companies testing a four-day workweek found success. What are the pros and cons?."
