For a while now more than 3,300 workers have been participating in the world’s largest 4 day working week pilot in the UK – which is more than 70 companies!
Most of the participating companies state that no productivity has been lost due to the 4-day week trials, in some cases companies have seen a significant improvement. 35 of these companies say they will “most likely” continue with this way of working after the trial has ended.
How did this trial come around? It has been spoken about for decades, but has never materialised. Since COVID-19 people realise they want a better work-life balance and working 5 out of the 7 days just isn’t justifiable anymore, which is where the trial came into place. The idea is that you only work 4 days with 3 days paid off (like an extra day has been added to the weekend). Ideally this cuts out the hours you spend procrastinating during work hours to allow you to enjoy that extra day off.
Some employers have stated that it has given their employees more time to cook, exercise, spend time with friends and family or take up new hobbies, which ultimately leads to better life and job satisfaction, and therefore better employee loyalty – this means that people are less likely to quit their job to find something better. With the ‘Great Resignation’ after the pandemic, the 4-day working week tackles this issue and is greatly reducing the amount of employee turnover.
The trial is working so well that other countries such as New Zealand, United States, Ireland, Sweden and Australia are now conducting their own pilots, to which some have found that employees are either producing the same amount of work or more!
This trial isn’t available to everyone, but there are other things you can do for your employees in the meantime to support their mental health in the workplace. With TriggerHub bibliotherapy hubs you are giving your employees instant access to a specially curated collection of books that assist with self-help mental health recovery. Whether it is stress, anxiety, depression or bipolar, OCD, assisting loved ones and family members – TriggerHub has a book for everyone and everything.
Give your employees the support they need by getting in touch today. You can find out more by heading over to our workplace hubs here.
