A coordinated, 6-month trial in the UK of a four-day working week, with no loss in pay for employees, will begin in June. It runs alongside similar pilot schemes taking place in Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The pilot is being coordinated by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with the think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week Campaign and researchers at Cambridge University, Boston College and Oxford University.
The pilot includes:
- Workshops: delivered by 4-Day Week Global alongside Autonomy and other companies and organisations that have already successfully implemented a four-day week. This will include online webinars and resources to help with common challenges, pitfalls and misconceptions.
- Mentoring: from the four-day week experts at 4 Day Week Global and Autonomy.
- Networking: with other UK participants in the coordinated pilot. This community will act as a peer-support network to share learnings and experiences.
- Wellbeing & Productivity Assessment: by a team of world-class academics, as part of a global research project.
More than 30 companies so far have committed to the trial which will have the following timeline:
February – March 2022: Rollout of information sessions on the pilot program.
31 March 2022: Deadline for signing up to the first phase of the pilot program.
April 2022: Preparation, training and onboarding sessions begins.
May 2022: Establish baseline metrics for the research aspect of the pilot and get trial-ready.
June to December 2022 (inclusive): 6-month trial period.
Joe O’Connor, pilot programme manager at 4 Day Week Global, said this year would “herald in a bold new future of work”.
“More and more businesses are moving to productivity-focused strategies to enable them to reduce worker hours without reducing pay,” he said. “The four-day week challenges the current model of work and helps companies move away from simply how long people are ‘at work’, to a sharper focus on the output being produced.”
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