Trialling a four day working week

[Simmy]

Hi all,

I'm in a fortunate position in that I've convinced my managing director to trial a 4-day working week, starting next year. It's based on 100% pay for 85% working hours (32-hour week) and, most importantly, retaining 100% productivity. The trial will be for 3-months initially, extending another 3-months if all is well. I'm already planning my days off!

We have questions and concerns which we've tried to mitigate before the trial begins but we won't know if it works unless we try it; we'll inevitably discover some issues during it! The difficulty will be retaining 100% productivity with 5 fewer working hours per week; I believe there's easily 5-hours of wasted time in everyone's working week and that we need to review ways we can work smarter. There is some trepidation as it's such a fantastic opportunity and we're eager to make it work.

That said, does anyone here work for a UK based company that is trialling or has trialled a 4-day week (whether you stayed with it or went back to 5-days)?

If so, would anyone be willing to answer a few questions from a company and/or personal perspective? Bonus points if it's a small company and/or a distributor! I don't expect anyone to reveal their place of work.

Thank you.

PS - I missed quite a key part which is that the company will fully close for one day per week. Largely because we're not large enough to spread the 4-day work week and stay open 5-days.

 

[cheesefest]

I worked for a call centre for 4 days a week. Problem was that they didn’t increase our break allowances. I did 4x9 hours shifts but only given break allowance for 7/7.5 hour shifts.

We argued for months that we need an increase in breaks. Which we did. Otherwise we worked an extra 25 hours a year for no pay! I can’t remember the full details as this was 16 years ago.

Make sure you get extra breaks if you are entitled to them.

 

[Zenduri]

Not exactly what you were looking for but i've been working a 4 day week for probably 6 years now (the last 3 years have been 100% working from home with the option to go into the office if i want) however i still have to commit to 37 hours so i work 9.25 hrs a day.

I work 8am-5:45 Tues-Fri for a large UK based company in a weird analyst/technical/admin role. While i know you would be working less hours than i do i would say it does take some getting used to when switching to 4 days, especially i expect in your case since your are technically not working a full week.

If you have any questions i might be able to answer or share my thoughts on then feel free to ask

 

[arknor]

The problem IMO will be people maintaining that 100% productivty over time instead of slacking off

 

[jpaul]

Our local Cambridge council workers started this - my take is seems to be UK based BS (like the working from home aspiration),
we have productivity that is lower than Europe(Fr,De) already, so I don't see businesses maintaining pay rises at the level they would have been when working 5 days,
maybe if your competitors are doing the same or its some unique highly in demand service it'll work out.

 

[Malevolence]

I do 4 on/4 off, 12hr shifts. That's all I can offer.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

@Simmy - if you had say 25 days a year annual leave, will that be pro-rata'd to 20 days a year when it's a 4-day week?

In the NHS, I work 30 hours a week and had the choice of either 5 6-hour days or 4 7.5-hour days. My leave entitlement was the same whichever I picked because it's in hours. The difference is the number of days you get depending if your day is 6 hours or 7.5 hours and you divide your amount by one of those 2 numbers.

 

[MrRockliffe]

I’ve been on the fence as to whether I’d prefer shorter 5 days or full 4 days.


What would others prefer?

 

[imtoooldforthis]

I’ve been on the fence as to whether I’d prefer shorter 5 days or full 4 days.


What would others prefer?

3 days

 

[Simmy]

I worked for a call centre for 4 days a week. Problem was that they didn’t increase our break allowances. I did 4x9 hours shifts but only given break allowance for 7/7.5 hour shifts.

We argued for months that we need an increase in breaks. Which we did. Otherwise we worked an extra 25 hours a year for no pay! I can’t remember the full details as this was 16 years ago.

Make sure you get extra breaks if you are entitled to them.

We've not gone with an additional break tbh, as full timers will only be doing an extra 30mins per day. Something to keep in mind though, thank you.

 

[China Man]

I have been working 4 day week but longer days, saves on travel of one day and also a weekday off to do stuff otherwise too busy doing. Love it.

 

[Simmy]

The problem IMO will be people maintaining that 100% productivty over time instead of slacking off

Agreed. Everyone will be eager in the first few months and flying high on the novelty value of it. It's possible the trial will need to run for up to a year to ensure productivity remains high.

 

[gingergundog]

3 days

2 days

 

[Simmy]

Our local Cambridge council workers started this - my take is seems to be UK based BS (like the working from home aspiration),
we have productivity that is lower than Europe(Fr,De) already, so I don't see businesses maintaining pay rises at the level they would have been when working 5 days,
maybe if your competitors are doing the same or its some unique highly in demand service it'll work out.

Fair enough and thanks for the input.

I don't know your circumstances of course, but would you turn down the offer of a 4-day week?

We've taken quite the opposite approach and offered a 4-day week in lieu of a pay rises this year. Company salary bill remains the same, but everyone gets an effective 15% increase in their hourly pay.

 

[Roar87]

You guys are productive for 32 hours a week? God damn.

 

[Simmy]

@Simmy - if you had say 25 days a year annual leave, will that be pro-rata'd to 20 days a year when it's a 4-day week?

Yes, we plan to pro-rata it to 85% of current allowance.

NHS have some great options for flexible working. Hope you're enjoying 4-day weeks?!

 

[MrRockliffe]

3 days

I can’t really argue with that

 

[PapaLazaru]

I think my productivity would increase on a 4 day week. Less work 'days' and more practical time off.

 

[marinersfan]

I do 3 12s, that's perfectly fine with me.

 

[Simmy]

I think my productivity would increase on a 4 day week. Less work 'days' and more practical time off.

Yep, that's the theory behind it. A happier workforce = more productive. Whether that is maintained beyond 3-6 months is another matter!

Additionally, a huge pull during recruitment drives and people are far less likely to leave the company which reduces time/money recruitment and training a replacement, retaining existing company knowledge.