UK: 100 Firms Back Permanent Four-Day Work Week With No Loss Of Pay

Even as 100 companies with 2,600 employees make up for a tiny fraction of the country’s workforce, there are hopes it may lead to a major shift in Britain's approach to work

A total of 100 UK firms sign up for four day week campaign.

Source : Getty

In a move that may bring about a change in Britain's approach to work, a total of 100 UK companies have signed up for a permanent four-day working week with no loss of salary payments to their employees.

Even as these companies with 2,600 employees make up for a tiny fraction of the country’s workforce, the 4 Day Week Campaign group is expecting it may lead to a major shift in Britain's approach to work, according to The Guardian report.

The group of companies argued that a five-day working pattern is a hangover from an earlier economic age.  The companies believe that the four-day approach will boost productivity which means the same output in fewer hours. One of the two biggest companies to have signed up for the four-day week campaign include Atom Bank and Awin. 

Globally, more than 150 companies and 7,000 employees across the United States, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand have signed up for the six-month coordinated trials of the four-day working week as part of the 2022 programme until December.

The UK campaign had rolled out the world’s biggest pilot scheme for about 70 companies, which employ about 3,300 workers, to adopt the four-day week in a trial. This is in collaboration with researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, Boston college and thinktank Autonomy.

Most of the companies resorting to the four-day week include services sector such as technology, events or marketing companies.

The demand to reduce the work week has gained steam in recent years in many countries amid the pandemic. The chorus for fewer days of work has only strengthened with employees switching to remote work during Covid-19, which reduced commuting time and costs offering greater flexibility.

A similar trial of a four-day week in Iceland became an "overwhelming success" and led to many workers moving to shorter hours, as per researchers. The trials, in which workers were paid the same amount for shorter hours, took place between 2015 and 2019.