'Hangover from earlier economic age': 100 UK firms to adopt permanent four-day working week

A total of 100 UK companies have signed up for a permanent four-day working week with no loss of pay for all their employees. With the move, about 2,600 staff are set to benefit in these companies.

Supporters of the four-day week have said that the five-day pattern is a hangover from an earlier economic age. As per The Guardian, they have argued that a four-day week would drive companies to improve their productivity, meaning they can create the same output using fewer hours. Early adopters of this policy have also found it a useful way of attracting and retaining employees.

Of the 100 companies, the two biggest firms that have signed up to adopt the four-day working week are Atom Bank and Awin. Each of them has about 450 staff in the UK.

Adam Ross, Awin’s chief executive, said adopting the four-day week was “one of the most transformative initiatives we’ve seen in the history of the company," according to The Guardian.

“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,” Ross added.

The outlet further said that the 4 Day Week Campaign is also coordinating the world’s biggest pilot scheme for about 70 companies, which employ about 3,300 workers, to adopt the four-day week in a trial with researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, Boston College and think tank Autonomy.

In September, 88 per cent of those companies in a survey at the middle of the trial said the four-day week was working “well” for their business at that stage of the trial. About 95% of the companies surveyed said productivity had either stayed the same or improved since the introduction, The Guardian reported.

Most of the companies that have officially adopted the four-day week are in the service sector such as technology, events or marketing companies. However, the campaign said that some manufacturing and construction employers had also signed up.

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