Thread by @thetimes

Allowing workers to drop to a four-day week with no loss of pay leads to happier staff and a boost in revenue for employers, a landmark British study has found
thetimes.co.uk/article/four-d…

Employees in the trial reported lower levels of stress and burnout and took fewer sick days while employers saw improvements in both revenue and staff retention with no loss of productivity

Across Britain, 61 companies and organisations moved their staff to a four-day week with no drop in salary over a six-month period starting in June last year

Researchers found that 71% of employees reported lower levels of burnout, with 39% saying they were less stressed compared with the start of the trial

In June 2022 Mike’s company and 60 others around Britain began a six-month trial of the four-day working week.

Employees and employers all signed up to a seemingly impossible equation — 100% of the pay, 80% of the time with 100% productivity
thetimes.co.uk/article/3-300-…

Mike’s week contracted by a day. His weekend expanded by a day. Within four weeks that change could be measured in heartbeats – 11 fewer per minute

Even over five days Mike’s job already felt pressured. “It would be easy to get carried away and feel like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders”

“There is a temptation to work every hour every day of the week.” Until the trial began he regularly gave in to that temptation

The switch changed everything. In order to manage his workload in four fifths of the time, Mike and his colleagues had to shift their mindsets. It began with a bonfire of the diaries

Thirty-minute meetings got cut in half. Monthly 90-minute one-to-ones with his team got crunched to an hour at first and then 45 minutes.

Read more here:
thetimes.co.uk/article/3-300-…

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Where the team discusses "The case for a four-day working week" thetimes.co.uk/podcasts/stori…