The world’s most extensive four-day work week trial has kicked off in the UK, with more than 70 companies and 3,300 employees participating. Thousands of workers across different industries of the country’s economy have signed up for the global study that started on Monday – June 6th, working for four days a week while still receiving full pay.
The 4-Day Week UK Pilot Programme aims to measure the productivity and well-being of staff over six months as they work a day less on the understanding of delivering similar results. Around 70 companies across hospitality, banking, care, and animation studios are signed up to participate. It involves academics from Cambridge and Oxford universities and experts at Boston College in the US. They coordinate the experiment in partnership with the think tank Autonomy and the not-for-profit coalition 4 Day Week Global.
“The four-day week is generally considered to be a triple dividend policy – helping employees, companies, and the climate. Our research efforts will be digging into all of this,” said a Professor of sociology at Boston College and the lead researcher behind the pilot scheme, Juliet Schor.
