A total of 200 U.K. employers, representing more than 5,000 employees, have signed up for a permanent four-day workweek with no loss of pay, according to a report by the Guardian.
It noted the majority of employers that have permanently adopted a shorter workweek are in sectors such as marketing, advertising and public relations (30), charitable and non-governmental organizations (29), information technology and software (24) and consulting (22).
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The move to a permanent four-day workweek follows a 2022 U.K. pilot program. Among the 61 companies that participated, 56 (91 per cent) opted to continue with the reduced workweek.
When employees in the pilot program were asked about a hypothetical trade-off between working time and pay, 70 per cent said they’d want a salary increase of between 10 per cent and 50 per cent to return to a five-day workweek. Fifteen per cent said there was no amount of money that could convince them to return to a five-day workweek.
Supporters of a four-day workweek say it’s a useful way of attracting and retaining employees and improving productivity by creating the same output over fewer hours, noted the report. This approach contrasts with the push among several U.S. employers, including Amazon.com Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., to bring employees back to the office five days per week.
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