Working a four-day week boosts employee wellbeing while preserving productivity,

“Now, results from the world's largest trial of a four-day working week reveal significantly reduced rates of stress and illness in the workforce -- with 71% of employees self-reporting lower levels of "burnout," and 39% saying they were less stressed, compared to the start of the trial.

There was a 65% reduction in sick days, and a 57% fall in the number of staff leaving participating companies, compared to the same period the previous year. Company revenue barely changed during the trial period -- even increasing marginally by 1.4% on average.

In a report of the findings presented to UK lawmakers, some 92% of companies that took part in the UK pilot programme (56 out of 61) say they intend to continue with the four-day working week, with 18 companies confirming the change as permanent.”

My Takeaways:

• A major study from the University of Cambridge found that a four day work week may bring more benefits than the costs of having one less day of work. The study involved sample companies who agreed to adopt a four day work week for some of their workers, by the end of the study some companies even adopted a permanent four day work week due to the benefits found in the study.

• The cons of having a four day work week is obviously losing the productivity per worker given that each worker will be working one day less. For some companies that means increasing employee hirings. Additionally some workers who rely on the fifth day of wages for their sustenance will have difficulty navigating a four day work week if implemented.

• However there were several meaningful pros that were observed, company earning margins were not reduced from a four day work week, there were significant reductions in worker turnover rates and sick leave dates. There were less instances of reported burnouts and stress from workers.

What do you think about a four day working week?

Full article is here!

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