Less emails, less meetings: the four-day work week is picking up steam for good reason

The four-day working week is picking up traction as a large trial ceases, and many of those who gave shorter work weeks a go now want to make it permanent.

About 100 firms in the United Kingdom are signing up to a permanent four-day week for all of their employees, with no change in how much they are paid, after the companies found the truncated time at work led to better productivity, happier staff and saw improved recruitment.

One of the biggest firms to decide to make a four-day how they work for good is marketing company Adwin. Its boss, Adam Ross, says adopting the four-day week was “one of the most transformative initiatives we’ve seen in the history of the company”.

“Over the course of the last year-and-a-half, we have not only seen a tremendous increase in employee wellness and wellbeing but concurrently, our customer service and relations, as well as talent relations and retention also have benefited.”

And another new four-day workplace in the UK, Atom Bank, says it saw a 500% increase in applications for job vacancies, and in August of this year it reported productivity had increased by 92% through the four-day trial period.

The four-day work week is being championed by New Zealander Andrew Barnes, who has been telling anyone, or any firm, that wants to listen how revolutionary a shorter week has been.

Barnes has gone so far as to launch a global campaign, and the latest adopters from the UK are a result of Barnes’ kicking off the conversation with his own firm, Perpetual Guardian, adopting the four-day week in 2018.

The UK companies took part in a trial through 4 Day Week Global, which saw about 70 firms sign up to measure how the four-day week worked for them.

At the halfway point the results were strong. Of the 41 companies who responded to a survey, 35 of them said they were “likely” or “very likely” to continue with the reduced working week after the pilot ended.

Countries are also riding the short-week wave.

Belgium introduced legislation earlier this year to allow workers to choose a four-day week if they wanted it.

Belgian prime minister Alexander de Croo announced the employment measures in February, and said he hoped the four-day work week would make the Belgian labour market more flexible.

"The goal is to give people and companies more freedom to arrange their work time," he says. “If you compare our country with others, you’ll often see we’re far less dynamic."

And closer to home, Unilever is to extend its trial of a four-day working week to 500 employees in Australia after a successful 18-month pilot in New Zealand.

Placid Jover, chief talent officer at the global giant, says the firm had positive results from paying about 80 staff full salaries for four rather than five-day weeks in New Zealand, and absenteeism had dropped by a third during its New Zealand trial.

“We’ve had strong business performance, high engagement, people feeling happier, and time spent in meetings also coming down,” Jover says. “When we look at the world of work, we think that companies that master the art of offering flexibility will become more attractive employers with more engaged workforces.”

And staff reported steep drops in stress and work-life conflict, Jover says.

For those who hate meetings, good news. Part of the time savings  Unilever found came from cutting down on meetings. Meeting time was cut by a typical three to 3.5 hours per person per week during the New Zealand trial, Jover says, and staff also sent fewer emails.

The overarching argument in favour of the four-day week is that there is a lot of wasted time built into the traditional five-day working week. We're just there because we're there - but are we actually making a difference? 

Silicon Valley consultant and author Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, who is doing some work with 4-day Global, says the four-day week is already there, it’s just buried under “all this time wasting stuff”, or tasks and admin that don’t contribute to strategic business goals.

The momentum for the four-day week seems to be hitting a tipping point. Along with the widely reported success of the UK trial, there is interest in Scotland and Wales in adopting a four-day week, with trade unions in vocal support.

Whether the four-day week can crack the US is another question, but since the results of the UK trial the movement even seems to be gathering some steam there, and also across the border into Canada.

The hope is that by focusing on getting runs on the board, rather than bodies in the office, productivity will improve and workers will get a precious day back.