The overwhelming majority of firms taking part in a four-day working week trial say their productivity has stayed the same or improved. More than 70 firms are taking part in a six-month trial in which employees get 100% pay for 80% of their normal hours worked.
At the halfway stage, 95% said productivity had improved or stayed the same, with 86% saying the experiment had gone so well they intended to keep it going in the future, the BBC reports. The trial is being run by 4 Day Week, a group campaigning for a shorter working week, along with Autonomy, a think tank, and researchers at Cambridge and Oxford universities.
The UK trial is part of pilots in the US, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. More than 3,300 employees are getting one paid day off per week, and 4 Day Week says that employees had benefitted from lower commuting and childcare costs.
It claims that a parent with two children would save £3,232.40 on average per year or roughly £269.36 per month. Will Stronge, director of research at Autonomy, told the BBC: "A four-day week with no loss of pay could play a crucial role in supporting workers to make ends meet over the next few years."
While the majority of companies had found the transformation to the shorter working week went without too much drama, some "old-fashioned" companies found the change "trickier". Joe O'Connor, chief executive of 4 Week Global, said: "We are learning that for many it is a fairly smooth transition and for some there are some understandable hurdles - especially among those which have comparatively fixed or inflexible practices, systems, or cultures which date back well into the last century."
Waterwise, a company which campaigns to reduce how much water is used in the UK, is one of the firms taking part in the scheme. It says its team are now "pretty happy", although it took some getting used to.
Managing director Nicci Russell said: "It wasn't a walk in the park at the start, but no major change ever is. We have all had to work at it. Some weeks are easier than others and things like annual leave can make it harder to fit everything in, but we're much more settled with it now overall than we were at the start.
"We certainly all love the extra day out of the office and do come back refreshed. It's been great for our wellbeing and we're definitely more productive."
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