Four-day working week experiment appears to have achieved positive results

A trial being carried out in the UK to test the effectiveness of a four-day working week appears to be proving a success for the companies involved.

The largest pilot scheme towards bringing in a four-day working week was launched in the United Kingdom in June, three months ago. It is a six-month trial that more than 70 companies signed up for.

This test was organised by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with leading think tank Autonomy, and researchers from the University of Cambridge, Boston College, and the University of Oxford. The current five-day working week has been in operation for many years but there are more and more voices seeking the implementation of the four-day week.

At the halfway point of the trial, the organisers have conducted a survey of the companies participating in the experiment. A series of questions with multiple choice answers on a scale from 1 to 5 were raised. The results are eloquent, with the first conclusions suggesting that it is a success.

Of the total surveyed, 88 per cent of respondents said that the four-day week is working ‘well’ for their business at this stage of the test. Another 46 per cent of respondents said their business productivity had ‘remained at the same level’, while 34 per cent reported that it had ‘improved slightly’, while 15 per cent said that it had ‘improved significantly’.