Making It Stick: The UK Four-Day Week Pilot One Year On
21st February 2024
One year on from the results of the world’s biggest ever four-day working week pilot which took place in the UK in 2022, companies that took part have reported significant and lasting success.
The report offers new insight into the effects of a four-day week on workers over the longer term, as well as into the strategies used by organisations to fit shorter working hours to their particular circumstances.
At a glance:
- Of the 61 organisations that took part in the 2022 UK four-day week pilot, at least 54 have confirmed that they are still operating the policy one year later (89%). In addition, at least 31 have made the four-day week permanent – 51% of all participating companies.
- Organisations were invited to participate in a follow-up study one year later, to see how the four-day week was taking effect. Almost half of the original cohort (28 organisations) agreed to take part in these follow-up research engagements, providing feedback on the policy itself, how to “make it stick” in the long term, and the lasting impacts of the four-day week.
- 100% of managers and CEOs who were consulted said that the four-day week had a ‘positive’ or ‘very positive’ impact on their organisation. When asked what the shorter working week had changed, 82% of surveyed companies reported positive impacts on staff well-being. 50% saw positive effects on reducing staff turnover and 32% said the policy had noticeably improved their recruitment.
- A separate follow-up survey with staff from 47 of the original pilot organisations also showed that the improvements in physical and mental health, work-life balance and general life satisfaction, as well as reductions in burnout, found at the end of the original pilot have all been maintained one year on. The survey also shows that work intensity remains lower, and job satisfaction higher, than before the 2022 pilot began.
- Additionally, through interviews with staff and managers, this report offers insights into the practicalities of maintaining a four-day week policy in the longer term.
- Interviews revealed the many positive initiatives and strategies that organisations have used to maintain their four-day week policies, including revising the norms around meetings, communications, work prioritisation and more.
- Interviews also suggested that staff in organisations where the additional day off was only weakly guaranteed (or conditional on meeting certain targets) had some concerns about the policy. Less committed forms of four-day week implementation leave staff less able to plan activities on their days off.
- Finally, interviews and qualitative feedback also shed further light on what staff were doing with their days off. Themes were broadly consistent with those seen during the original pilot, including a focus on care responsibilities, hobbies, and clearing out chores during the week in order to have quality time on the weekend.
Authors
Autonomy team
Tatiana Pignon, Kyle Lewis, Liam Mullally, Lukas Kikuchi, Jack Kellam, Grace Western
Qualitative research team
Dr. David Frayne (University of Salford), Prof. Brendan Burchell (University of Cambridge), Niamh Bridson Hubbard (University of Cambridge), Jon White (University of Cambridge), Dr. Daiga Kamarāde (University of Salford)
With thanks to Boston College research team for their survey data
Prof. Juliet Schor (Boston College), Prof. Wen Fan (Boston College), Prof. Orla Kelly (University College Dublin), Guolin Gu (Boston College)
Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology at Boston College:
“The one year results are excellent. Overall results have held and in some cases have even continued to improve. Physical and mental health, and work-life balance are significantly better than at six months. Burnout and life satisfaction improvements held steady. Job satisfaction and sleep problems nudged down a bit, but the bulk of the original improvement remains.
“The key point is that the strong findings at six months are not due to novelty or short term impacts. These effects are real and long lasting.”
Will Stronge, Director of Research at Autonomy:
“One year on from the results of the UK’s four-day week pilot, virtually every company we’ve spoken to has decided to stick with the four-day week.
“The improvements in physical and mental health, work-life balance, and general life satisfaction, as well as the reductions in burnout found at the end of the trial have all been maintained one year on.”