With no loss of pay, another 100 UK companies have made the decision to move their employees to a four-day working week.

The 4 Day Week Campaign group ensure that companies making this shift are doing so without expecting their employees to work longer hours on the four days that they do work.

Two of the biggest companies making this new change include Atom Bank and Awin, both of which are accredited by the campaign.

The total number of employees that these 100 companies employ is 2,600, according to a statistic given by The Guardian. 

What about overtime?

According to new research by NerdWallet, men tend to do more overtime than women – just under 26 days per year, as opposed to just over 17.5 days per year for women. And this is true for every region in the UK. Men in the South East, however, work the least overtime, at 21.3 days extra per year, while men in Yorkshire and the Humber clock in more than 30 days in overtime per year. Tha i’s a full calendar month every year.

Women in Wales top the list for the most hours of overtime every year for females. Their counterparts in Scotland, however, clock off earlier, with fewer than 14.5 days in overtime over the course of the year.

All in all, this overtime for the average worker, added on to contractual hours, means full-time workers are clocking in just under 1922 hours per year – more than 160 hours more than they are contracted.

For a four-day week to work, employers will need to take overtime seriously.

Connor Campbell, business expert NerdWaller, says:

“It’s long been proven that British workers put in some of the longest weekly hours at work. Although this has reduced over the years, there’s still a long way to go if we want to really embrace the work/life balance some of our European colleagues have fostered.

“The number of hours worked on top of what is contracted is astonishing. A couple of hours here and there may not feel like much at the time, but it evidently all adds up, and can mean we’re at risk of burning out and getting work fatigue. The worrying thing is, this is also only paid overtime and doesn’t include those unpaid hours spent on the job. Therefore, overtime figures are likely to be much higher.”

“The Covid-19 pandemic made millions of people think differently about their work/life balance, and as such has paved the way for trends like quiet quitting. However, the adoption of these trends tend to only come about from workers who feel they are overworked and thus become disengaged. So the rise of the term means something needs to be done.

“The fourday week trial, which has proven to be successful so far, could go some way to reducing the number of hours Brits work, specifically overtime, but it’s down to employers to make sure workloads reduce in-line with working hours, and that employees are able to really make the most of this new way of working.”

Kate Palmer, HR Advice and Consultancy Director, says:

“A shift to 4-day working weeks is significant and should not be underestimated, particularly when taking into account the expectation that employees and employers alike must increase daily productivity by 25% to make up for the lack of additional working day. Reduced days have been criticised for not recognising the underlying causes of employee burnout and dissatisfaction, namely that their workloads are overwhelming.

“Oftentimes, employees on 4-day weeks are still expected to produce the same levels of work, so find themselves more stressed due to the lack of time they have to complete it. They may feel forced to work overtime during evenings or weekends which, ultimately, can end up causing more problems than you started with.

“Businesses must also balance the difficulty of adopting a working pattern which is different from the norm, since they still have to be able to communicate effectively with clients and suppliers, and meet needs and demands.

“It’s clear that with the benefit of trial and error, and learning from others’ mistakes, more employers will be able to successfully follow this approach, but such things take time. In the meantime, employers may want to review current working practices and assess whether these can be made more efficient, and invest in change management training so if amendments to normal working patterns were to be made, the workforce remains resilient and adaptable.

“This being said, those who have successfully implemented a 4-day working week have reported reduced levels of absence, improved retention rates and increased productivity so there clearly are benefits to adopting such a working pattern.”

What about the previous four-day week trial?

Mark Chaffey says: “Inequality is likely to grow because a four-day week is a luxury only possible for those who can compress their work in such a tidy fashion consistently, week in, week out. For example, anyone who cares for somebody – whether that’s a child or an elderly relative – doesn’t have the option to work longer days. Even amongst the most amicable of work teams, seeing colleagues having a three-day weekend while you’re still working, or holding the fort with a reduced team when they have the extra day off, could understandably become incredibly grating.”

He also questions how realistic it is that the workforce will switch off entirely on that fifth day.

“What’s meant to happen to work that comes in on the fifth day? Do the queries just go unanswered for 24 hours? Do other team members pick the work up, and then pass it back? Or will employees check emails on the fifth day, in addition to already working their full weeks’ worth of hours? Although it appears people are gaining an extra day off; in many cases, they won’t be. In fact, what they will be gaining is four longer days – plus the ‘bonus’ of using your extra day to pick up any overhang. This is a road to burnout. “

Mark says that while the possible introduction of such a flawed concept in the UK is worrying, there is nothing wrong with the sentiment behind the four-day week.

“The desire to give workers a better work-life balance is something we can all get behind – as well as the desire to improve the UK’s long-standing productivity slump. The problem comes when trying to apply a ‘one size fits all’ approach when everyone’s individual lives could not be more different.

“Most people don’t want their employer mandating a four-day week, a five-day week or any other week. Instead, they want clear goals, an opportunity to grow, and the chance to work hard to get great results, within a flexible framework that best suits their lives outside of work.”

 

 

 

 

 

Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.