Campaigners are set to call on MPs to introduce a 32-hour working week for all British employees after the world's biggest trial of a four-day week was hailed as a "major breakthrough".
A total of 61 companies across the UK took part in the trial, which saw them commit to reduce working hours for all staff by 20% for six months from June last year - with no reduction in wages. When it came to the nearly 3,000 staff members taking part, the results showed a significant drop in rates of stress and illness when working a four-day week.
The number of sick days dropped by about two thirds during the trial, while around 39% of employees said they were less stressed compared to when they worked a longer week. The majority of companies said that they planned to keep a shorter working week after the trial ended, with 56 businesses committing to this while 18 confirmed that they had officially made it a permanent change.
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Among the firms which took part were eight in the marketing and advertising sector, and seven in professional services such as asset management and insurance. Five charities and non-profits also took part - including Citizens Advice in Gateshead - as well as education, finance, healthcare and online firms, and even a fish and chip shop.
Staff reported that balancing care responsibilities at home had become much easier after having their hours reduced, while levels of anxiety and burnout also dropped significantly. The results even found that company revenue increased slightly by 1.4% on average throughout the trial period.
The trial also found that staff were much more likely to stay in their jobs while working a shorter week, with a 57% drop in the number of staff leaving the companies taking part in the trial compared with the same period the previous year. The research was carried out by academics at the University of Cambridge and Boston College in the US, and was co-ordinated by not-for-profit organisation 4 Day Week Global, in partnership with think tank Autonomy and campaign group 4 Day Week Campaign.
Joe Ryle, director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, praised the trial as a "major breakthrough moment" for the campaign towards a four-day working week. "Across a wide variety of different sectors of the economy, these incredible results show that the four-day week with no loss of pay really works," Mr Ryle said.
"Surely the time has now come to begin rolling it out across the country." The campaigners and academics will present the results of the trial in the House of Commons on Tuesday, in the hope of persuading lawmakers to introduce a 32-hour week for all UK workers.
However, there were some concerns reported by some staff who took part in the trials - some people working at one large company said they found themselves struggling to get through their to-do lists in the shorter time period, and that work became more intense as a result. Some managers and staff also reported feeling that the focus on efficiency had made their workplace less sociable.
But researchers insisted the results show the four-day week is "ready to take the next step from experimentation to implementation". Dr David Frayne, a research associate at the University of Cambridge, said: "We feel really encouraged by the results, which showed the many ways companies were turning the four-day week from a dream into realistic policy, with multiple benefits."
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