The global trend toward a 4-day workweek is gaining momentum, driven by growing evidence of benefits related to employee well-being, productivity, and organizational performance.

This model typically involves employees working 80% of the time—four days instead of five—while receiving 100% pay and maintaining 100% productivity.

The approach aims to balance work efficiency with improved life quality, though implementation varies by industry, company size, and country context.

Key benefits reported across multiple international pilots and studies include substantial improvements in employee happiness, reduced workplace stress, and enhanced work-life balance.

For example, the 4 Day Week Global initiative originating from New Zealand conducted pilots in countries like the UK, Ireland, North America, and New Zealand itself, demonstrating consistent increases in employee satisfaction and productivity without income loss .

This positive effect is attributed partly to reduced stress and absenteeism as employees can better manage personal and family commitments, returning to work refreshed and more innovative .

In large-scale trials such as the UK pilot involving over 3,000 employees and more than 60 companies, and the Icelandic trials covering a significant portion of the public sector workforce, clear evidence of improved well-being, reduced sick leave, and increased worker happiness emerged.

These pilots confirmed that productivity could be maintained or even increased under the 4-day workweek arrangement .

Survey data from the US also shows that approximately 30% of large companies are exploring shorter workweeks to address talent retention challenges related to overwork and burnout.

In North America, pilots have similarly observed reduced sick leave and administrative time without negatively impacting revenue streams .

Companies that have permanently adopted the 4-day workweek, like the San Francisco e-commerce startup, report sustained gains in productivity and employee happiness, with overwhelming support from both staff and management.

These outcomes are frequently credited to a focus on work efficiency—such as cutting unnecessary meetings and streamlining workflows—rather than simply compressing hours into fewer days .

The largest trial to date, involving over 3,500 employees across 91 companies, found a 35% increase in revenue alongside better recruitment, reduced absenteeism, and pronounced improvements in mental and physical health.

Women, in particular, experienced greater benefits, including a more equitable distribution of non-work duties, demonstrating the model’s potential for enhancing workplace equality .

Despite such promising results, the 4-day workweek faces several significant challenges and barriers to widespread adoption.

One primary concern involves sector-specific applicability—certain industries like healthcare, emergency services, and manufacturing may find it difficult or impossible to reduce working days without affecting service continuity or incurring higher costs due to shift coverage needs .

Employers often grapple with coordinating schedules and managing potential disruptions to business operations.

These difficulties emphasize the need for tailored approaches rather than one-size-fits-all solutions, considering the nature of work and customer expectations.

Concerns about pay equity and workload distribution also persist.

While the most successful pilots maintain full pay alongside reduced hours, fear of income loss or increased intensity during working days troubles many employees.

The workload during the compressed week can sometimes intensify, leading to risk of burnout if not carefully managed.

Clear communication and employee involvement in the transition process are vital to mitigate these issues.

The model’s success often hinges on trust and cooperation between employers and workers, as highlighted in initiatives led by New Zealand entrepreneur Andrew Barnes .

Regulatory and economic environments also influence feasibility.

For instance, Russia’s discourse focuses more on traditional holiday structures, with minimal exploration of shorter workweeks.

Economic studies suggest that while reduced working days may yield mixed effects on the economy, benefits to productivity, health, and environmental outcomes have been observed in countries like Japan and Australia during pilot programs .

The environmental gains come from reduced commuting and energy use, highlighting an additional policy motivation.

Adopting the 4-day workweek also requires organizational changes in management practices, such as fewer but more effective meetings, prioritization of tasks, and flexible workflows.

The adjustment demands careful planning to ensure service coverage and prevent business interruptions.

Companies involved in the UK trials noted that successful transitions necessitate preparation, open dialogue with employees, and flexible scheduling to maintain service levels while reaping benefits .

In summary, the adoption of a 4-day workweek presents multiple benefits, including improved employee well-being, retention, productivity, and potential positive economic impacts.

Case studies and trials globally demonstrate that it can be successfully implemented, especially in knowledge-based, administrative, and some service sectors.

However, barriers include sector-specific constraints, workload management complexities, risk of unequal access, and operational scheduling challenges.

Regulatory contexts and cultural attitudes toward work also influence implementation success.

Recommendations for broader adoption include tailored pilot programs that account for industry-specific needs, strong communication and trust-building between employers and employees, and supportive labor policies to ensure pay equity and worker protections.

Incremental implementation with continuous evaluation can help identify best practices and mitigate risks.

The increasing interest worldwide, coupled with technological advances such as AI to improve productivity, suggests the 4-day workweek is a viable labor model for many organizations aiming to balance efficiency with employee quality of life .

The global trend toward a 4-day workweek is gaining momentum, driven by growing evidence of benefits related to employee well-being, productivity, and organizational performance.

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Content: Interest in the four-day week has been on the rise in recent years with the Covid-19 pandemic accelerating the shift in how businesses organise their teams while employees are looking a6t how to achieve a better work life balance.

Currently, more than 3300 workers at 70 companies are working a four-day week with no loss of pay in the biggest ever four-day week pilot to take place anywhere in the world.

They are more than half way through the six-month trial, which started on June 6. It is based on the principle of the 100:80:100 model - 100% of the pay for 80% of the time, in exchange for a commitment to maintain at least 100% productivity.

Joe Ryle, director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, one of the organisations behind the campaign, said: “Companies should embrace the four-day week as a way of boosting productivity, improving wellbeing and to help with job retention. The 9-5, 5 day working week is outdated and no longer fit for purpose.”

At BusinessLive, we've been covering the trend for a number of years and for this article, we check in with firms from right across the UK to see how it's going.

From early adopters to businesses that have made the change in recent months, we find out how things are working out from both a business and employee perspective.

The responses are honest and explain the pros and cons.

We firmly believe the four-day week is the future of working life

Atom Bank

Durham

Challenger bank Atom last November became the largest UK business to move all employees to a four-day working week, with no change of salary.
The Durham business, which now has 480 staff, made the shift in recognition of people having longer working lives, the positive impact of technology, flexible working and the need to live and work more sustainably.
More than six months on, Atom has seen a noticeable positive impact that the shift has had on employees, customer service, and operations.

Anne-Marie Lister, chief people officer at Atom, said: “Over six months on from introducing our new four-day working week, it’s clear that it has been a huge success for our business and our people.
“People are rightly looking for a healthier work/life balance, and despite warnings from some sceptics, our metrics and people surveys show that this has not had a negative impact on employees or customer service. In fact, it has been the opposite, with happier, more efficient, and more productive people who are even more driven to help us change banking for the better.
“We firmly believe the four-day week is the future of working life and it is encouraging to now see the range of businesses across the UK embracing the four-day week trials."

One objective was to attract and retain talent more effectively and data reveals this has been a success, having seen a 500% surge in job applications following its launch.
Headcount has grown from 461 in November 2021 to 480 in June 2022, thanks also to a reduction in the number of departures. Atom said this has been vital, with the fight for talent becoming fiercely competitive following the widespread adoption of hybrid working following the pandemic.
Productivity levels have also been measured by each department, with metrics specific to each of the 10 departments. Data collated for the six months to April reveals that across all of the 165 departmental metrics tracked, the success rate has improved.
Employees are also more motivated working a four-day week too. Almost all (92%) report that they look forward to work, and there has been a 13% increase in people engagement between February 2022 and 12 months earlier. Days lost to sickness have also declined since the introduction of the new working structure, dropping from 100 in the month of November 2021, to 72 in June 2022.
Meanwhile, in terms of Atom’s impact on customer service, its Trust Pilot score has risen from 4.54 at the start of the new working structure to 4.82 in June.

What do Atom employees say?

As to how staff members use their time off, Paul, contact centre team leader, said: “I’ve been using my extra day off to do an advanced motorcyclist course so I can volunteer for Northumbria Blood Bikes as a rider, transporting blood from surgeries to hospitals.”
Jonathon, telephone business development manager, said: “The four-day working week has allowed me to spend some quality time with my three year old son Jack. Spending our time in the best soft plays & swimming pools Sunderland has to offer, before dropping him off & picking him up from nursery. Without this day off, I would rarely be able to have this quality time together during the week.”

In short, I’ve been a dad

Merthyr Valleys Homes

Merthyr Tydfil

Merthyr Valley Homes adopted a 30-hour week in the four day working week pilot scheme without loss of pay.

Some staff member are working a four day week and some are working shorter hours over five days to ensure service provision over five days.

The biggest challenge for the firm has been finding ways to work differently while ensuring services aren’t impacted, however it has tried out new approaches during the pilot and says it has found “some very quick wins”.

A spokesperson said: “We have been working on how best to measure success and we are developing a number of new performance measures as a direct result of participating in the trial.”

A positive outcome has been the cooperation between teams and directorates.

“The conversations around how to work more efficiently have been really interesting and it has given everyone a reason to take the time to look at this collectively.”

The company has also seen support for the scheme from its stakeholders and the housing sector in Wales, and has attracted a wide range of candidates to apply for its job vacancies.

Of the advice it would give to other businesses thinking of moving to a four day week, the firm says: “Don’t be too prescriptive and set too many rules - our colleagues have been our greatest asset in designing their own solutions.”

The employee perspective

Ross Williams is the tenant engagement lead for Merthyr Valleys Homes.

The 42-year-old, who is married with 2 children, says the four day working week has hugely improved his work-life balance.

“I feel working 80% of the hours has increased my output. And I realise that a huge reason for this is because of what I choose to do with the other 20%,” he said.

During his non-working day on a Thursday, Mr Williams says he will fit in some early morning exercise or catch up with friends before picking up his 3-year-old son from nursery at 11am. He will also collect his daughter from school.

“In short, I’ve been a dad,” he said. “I’ve been guilty in the past of prioritising work over family and I’m determined to ensure this time remains a space where I get to enjoy some of the simple pleasures.”

During work hours, Mr Williams says the four day working week pilot has also provided some real work benefits and encouraged practical changes within the business.

In meetings, he says discussions are pertinent and decisions are reached “as quickly as possible saving time for myself and colleagues”.

He said: “I feel so much more productive knowing that my work is planned, my non-working day is factored in and my diary ensures my team can access me to ensure they are able to retain the same level of productivity,” he said.

“I think I am more productive, more focused and more content in my role. I have become much more well prepared for the time off that the four day week gives me.”

You couldn’t pay me enough to go back to five days

Marketing Signals

Altrincham

Marketing Signals, moved to a four-day working week in May with staff working 32-hours with no loss of pay.

When Managing Director Gareth Hoyle explained the reasons behind his decision on Linkedin, his post went viral and he was inundated with questions from other business bosses keen to do the same.

Mr Hoyle said he is excited to be part of a new model of work.

"It focuses on quality not quantity and will revolutionise the future of work. A good work/life balance is the key to a happy and healthy workforce which leads to loyalty, ultimately helping our business grow.

“My motto has always been ‘don’t live to work and don’t work to live’, and if COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that it’s important we look after ourselves first. It’s important that my staff feel valued and understand life outside of work is just as important."

What do staff say?

Web developer and dad to a newborn Jack Darracott says that a shift to a four-day working week has transformed his life and made him more productive at work.

He works smarter, not harder, and the extra day off allows him to spend more time with his newborn son.

He said: “Since moving to the four-day working week, I’ve been able to spend more quality time with my son, and experience all of the first milestones that I would have missed out on had I been working a full week.”

The catalyst for the move to a four-day week came from the rise in cost of living, which led to Jack asking for a change in working hours due to rising childcare costs.

Jack explains: “The new model has also helped save money as I now don’t have to spend more of my wages on additional childcare fees. This is especially important with the rise in the cost of living. The extra day off also offers breathing room for any curve balls that life may throw at me.”

The four-day trial was met with some scepticism as many people questioned whether it would actually work. However, Jack says it has improved his productivity and efficiency, and that he even feels more energised when he’s back in.

Jack said: adds: “Not only has it helped with my home life, but my work has also improved. My day off serves as a ‘reset day’, so when I’m back in I can look at work with a fresh pair of eyes and I feel more refreshed.”

“You couldn’t pay me enough to go back to five days.”

There have been a number of lessons along the way

Tyler Grange

London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Exeter and Cirencester

The landscape planning, ecology and arboriculture consultancy became the first in its industry to sign up to the UK pilot in June. Its 80-strong nationwide team does not work Fridays with no loss of income.

The firm is reporting promising results producing the same amount of work so far during the pilot - from June to August – as it did in the same period last year. This is a measurement ratio of productive time versus direct costs, which means the company is, as planned, 100% productive in 80% of the time.

At the pilot’s halfway point, Simon Ursell, Managing Director at Tyler Grange, shares his seven key pieces of advice on how to make the transition from five to four as seamless – and successful - as possible.

Preparation is vital

I can’t stress enough how important it is to prepare for the switch from five working days to four. To enjoy a better work-life balance and to have more time to spend doing what we love. This just can’t be switched on overnight.

Talk to your clients and customers

The most common concern, of course, was ‘what if we need you on a Friday?’ but the vast majority congratulated us for showing such innovation, yet again, and are keen to be kept up to date on how it’s going.

Talk to your team and be ready to realise that a four-day working week isn’t for everyone

It’s essential to engage with your team but it’s also important to realise that working a four-day week isn’t for everyone.

Once the pilot began, and we became more accustomed to our new systems and way of working – which removed lots of lengthy admin and unnecessary meetings and reporting from our day - they soon got their heads around it.

Take different job roles and departments into consideration

Some of our work is very seasonal so, for those teams that are very busy during summertime, we’ve delayed the implementation of some new processes until the autumn.

You need to give people time to learn how to work differently – and it may not be the same for everyone.

If you’re looking to sell your business, a four-day week might not be for you

We used to receive a number of approaches by companies looking to buy us. But interesting, since trialling the four-day week, they’ve stopped.

So, for any potential owners who are sceptical that cutting hours could increase productivity, working a four-day week probably feels like too great a gamble to get locked into.

Bite the bullet and only have one company-wide day off

In some companies, the potential impact of the four-day week is being mitigated by covering all days but with reduced colleagues. We wouldn’t recommend this, despite it perhaps seeming to be an easier option at first.

It can sometimes be more intense and tiring

Most jobs are intense from time to time, and we know that working four days rather than five can exacerbate this on occasions. The adoption of our Alertness App – means we can get a real handle on any tiredness early and can react straight away.

Mr Ursell said: “I’d be surprised if we don’t adopt a permanent four-day working week post-pilot, but we still have three months to go.

“The UK has an unhealthy culture where it is seen as a badge of honour to be work all the time, the brilliant talent that we want to attract at all levels of the organisation - don’t want to be defined by a burnout life."

The worker's point of view

Helen Brittain, 54, is an administrator at Tyler Grange.

She lives with her husband, her son and daughter-in-law, and her two grandchildren - Henrietta, 5, and Florence, 7, - as well as their two dogs.

Helen said her productivity has improved enormously and the new working processes and systems encourage me help her to plan better.

She said: “In the past, work -life balance was always a bit of an issue for me. I felt like a two-day weekend didn’t enable me to enjoy enough of a homelife or to do necessary chores.

Now she is able to get on with chores and care for her grandchildren and find some time for herself.

She said: “I’ve also recently embarked on my own self-learning journey around mental health, as well as looking after my psychical health by working with a personal trainer and nutritionist.

“All of this is having enormous benefits on my personal health and wellbeing, which then has a real impact on my workplace performance and productivity.”

We're more productive and creative than ever before

Accu

Huddersfield

A Huddersfield-based tech-based firm that introduced a permanent four-day week to all 100 staff four months ago say the move has paid massive dividends.

Accu, which designs, manufactures and distributes engineering components worldwide, says it has seen a major boost in productivity, job applications, turnover, and orders from customers.

The firm's policy with no reduction in pay or obligation for staff to make the hours up.

From April-July, Accu has created 20 new jobs – a 25% increase in headcount. The number of applications per role has skyrocketed. One role, which previously got 40 applications, subsequently got 200 – a 400% increase. Similar numbers are being experienced across all vacancies.

Simultaneously, productivity is up, as the time it takes to respond to customer enquiries has improved by 46%. Order numbers and average values have increased by 15%, boosting turnover by 10% (quarter-on-quarter), meaning Accu is on track to hit £12m-plus turnover this year.

Company co-founder, Martin Ackroyd told YorkshireLive: "Giving people more personal time to enjoy the things they love has increased motivation, decreased the risk of burnout and has driven a renewed sense of purpose in our mission to help our customers build a better tomorrow. As a result, we're more productive and creative than ever before."

What do staff say?

Some staff have used their new spare time to pursue personal interests, such as home renovation and the arts, whilst others have used it to spend more time with their family or save on childcare costs.

Matt Ogden, community manager, said: "The longer weekends are very well received. With a longer break, it personally provides me with freedom to travel to London to enjoy and take part in the performing arts. In general, everyone feels more chilled, upbeat, happy, and refreshed.

"In terms of the business, we have seen a benefit across all areas – it was definitely a sound business decision."

Every Friday I enjoy not setting an alarm

Chilwell Products

Ilkeston, Derbyshire

Staff at the manufacturer of end bands for scaffold boards previously worked 39 hours over five days but this was reduced earlier this year by five hours, with all staff on duty Monday to Thursday.

Laura Clarke, managing director, said investment in new machinery improved overall capacity while giving back time to the team."

She said: "Initially, there were concerns around how our move would be received by customers but, when we ran our trial period, we managed to maintain lead times despite operating for five hours fewer.

"Many customers and suppliers have praised our move, even going as far to ask if they can have a job here.

She said the atmosphere at work had improved and there was something 'incredibly smug' about knowing you were halfway through the week on a Tuesday while team members had more autonomy over their lives and how they spent their free time, with some taking extra work elsewhere.

The hard numbers for the firm's manufacturing volumes and the first two financial quarters are positive despite the drop in hours.

She said: "I would advise others thinking of doing this to brainstorm, speak to various people within teams, gather information and look at the business from as many different angles as possible.

"It might not be something you can do in the next few months or even this year but you could start to make changes.

"Businesses need to think outside the box, we need to be innovative as we shape the working landscape moving forward."

How's work been?

Nicholas Wall is a 28-year-old toolroom assistant and press operator at Chilwell Products.

"It's nice to finish the working week on Thursday knowing you'll come in on Monday to a fresh slate.

"This also makes me feel like I'm giving something back to the company as I appreciate they've given us more time to spend however I want."

Nicholas said that, in previous roles with other employers, he felt he was rushing his evenings and weekends but had grown accustomed to it and had not noticed the effect this was having on him.

He added: "Only now that I'm more relaxed do I realise how frantic and pressured my personal life was.

"Every Friday I enjoy not setting an alarm, naturally waking up then heading to the gym to get a workout in and get it out the way."

It's not an easy process, but one we're proud we took the time to implement

City to Sea

Bristol

Bristol-based environmental organisation City to Sea has moved to a four-day working week without any reduction in pay for staff.

The community interest company employs 19 people, who are all now working a 32-hour week, but are being paid the same salary as when they worked for five days. The organisation, which campaigns to reduce plastic pollution, confirmed the move after running a four-day week trial over six months, and receiving positive feedback from staff. Now, every employee has Friday off.

Natalie Fee, chief executive and founder, said the top three challenges of implementing the four-day week were staff members feeling overstretched, managing work patterns and difficulties adjusting to reduced hours.

“We also found calculations around bank holidays and implications of those weeks being three days difficult to navigate,” she said.

However, she said the positives were staff motivation and increased wellbeing.

“It creates a much more balanced, healthier working environment and has resulted in increased staff engagement and staff retention. It's not an easy process, but one we're proud we took the time to test and implement.”

On the frontline

Steve Hynd, policy manager at City to Sea, who is 36 and is married with two children under five, says the move has been “completely transformative”.

“It’s not just the four days a week but also offering flexible working, having a really supportive line manager, and a host of other positive HR policies. This all combined is allowing me to spend more time with my two young kids, giving back to my community as a local district councillor and crucially (and very rarely) even having a bit of time for myself. It has removed the sense of being constantly over-stretched and has improved my mental and physical health significantly.”

Read more of our coverage on the four-day week:

What did  the trial of 4-day workwee in New Zealand show?

What did a survey on 4-day workweek conducted in Hong Kong show?

61% of respondents said employers could implement a four-day workweek to improve employees' mental health.

What has the implementation 4-day wrokweek in Dubai, UAE indicated?

This model typically involves employees working 80% of the time—four days instead of five—while receiving 100% pay and maintaining 100% productivity.

What has the implementation 4-day wrokweek in Dubai, UAE indicated?

The approach aims to balance work efficiency with improved life quality, though implementation varies by industry, company size, and country context.

Title:

Content: 3 days a week is a trust war between employers and employees!
Journalist Ho Che-hsin / Feature article
The government will respond by June 26 to the public ’ s proposal to make Taiwan the first country in Asia to take a three-day weekend off, which has already been endorsed by more than 5,000 people.
However, in fact, in order to achieve the goal of three days of weekly rest, the role of the government is not important, the focus is on the communication between employers and employees, enhance work efficiency, the company's revenue is not affected, if the trust between employers and employees is insufficient, hastily take three days off each week, will only perish in the embarrassing situation of workers' disgrace and employers' anger, which will not help to increase labor rights and harmonious labor.
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The concept of "three days off" was first proposed by New Zealand entrepreneur Barnes, who saw a study in The Economist that "workers who take two days off and work eight hours a day are only 1.5 to 2.5 hours a day productive." Workers can also take an extra day off each week to have time to rest or do what they want, which is good for both employers and employees, so why insist on working five days a week?
As a result, Barnes began to advocate his ideas, and worked with the British non-profit organization 4 Day Week Global, among others, to conduct experiments in the United Kingdom.
Gradually, the idea of a three-day weekend became popular in Europe and spread to other countries around the world.
Barnes also wrote his experience as a "three-day weekend revolution" book, hoping that more and more companies will be willing to promote three-day weekend.
However, Barnes clearly mentioned in the beginning of the book that the three-day weekend must be a policy that can be completed by the cooperation of both employers and employees.
First of all, workers must first clarify themselves, their weekday work, whether they often encounter what will hinder the work efficiency of the trivial matters? Such as meaningless meetings, gossip chat in the tea room for too long, or lazy Internet browsing, etc., since you want to increase the daily work efficiency, you must first set goals, how to reduce these interference, so that the original five-day work can be completed in four days.
For the employer, if you are willing to give employees an extra day of leave, you must first ensure that the weekly working hours will not increase, and other working days, you can still work on time without overtime.
Otherwise, to work five days a week, eight hours a day, to work four days a week, 10 hours a day, this will also let the workers lose the incentive to this policy.
But even if the employer is willing to take three days off a week, willing to empower the worker to decide their own performance, but the enterprise is still for profit after all, if because the worker takes an extra day off, resulting in a reduction in corporate revenue, or customer complaints increase, such an extra day of leave, it is not feasible.
In addition, workers must also remember that this is the result of coordination between employers and employees, but if the employee finds that the efficiency of the employee has not improved after four days of work per week, at least compared to the efficiency of the employee working for five days, then the employer also has the right to refuse to implement a three-day weekly rest.
Weekly rest three days is the result of each enterprise, labor and capital to communicate with each other, so it is not necessarily a company to be fully implemented within the company, the willingness of both labor and capital is the most important, if the labor is unwilling to cooperate, or the supervisor has doubts, you can also be promoted by some departments first, and weekly rest three days are not mandatory to take three days off at the weekend, otherwise there are fewer rotating staff, which has an impact on the company's operations.
In short, the three-day weekend is a result that can only be achieved after both employers and employees are willing to push each other to come up with a viable alternative.
If implemented smoothly, workers take an extra day off, they can have more time to rest, so that they can be physically and mentally rejuvenated, and they can have more time to spend with their families, which can help increase the marriage rate and fertility rate.
But most workers are still worried that an extra day of leave may reduce their income, and even this day of leave does not know what to do, so it is better to keep working five days a week.
This is also a problem that European and American countries often encounter in the early days of promoting the three-day weekend. Sometimes the workers themselves are unwilling, or can not guarantee that the work efficiency will not be affected by less than one day of work, so that the management will not implement the three-day weekend.
In other words, although in order to live, everyone must work, but work is not the whole of life, with the progress of the times, everyone should pay more attention to their labor rights, the right to decide more rest, the right to value their own health, the right to spend more time on themselves, rather than just work.
Back to the network.
It can be imagined that when there is no consensus between employers and employees, everyone will expect the Government to set the standards.
But different industries are different, how each worker tries to increase their work efficiency, the method is also different, it is difficult for the government to uniformly set standards, and it is impossible to force enterprises to comply with, otherwise it will be punished, after all, the operation of each enterprise is not the same.
Therefore, before discussing "three days off week", it is more important that employees and employees should clearly express their position, why do employees want to take one more day off, how do employers ensure that taking one more day will not harm the interests of the company?
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What challenges will the companies with diverse workforce have for implementing 4-day workweek??

Complicated to roll out for large companies

What did surveys conducted in London before and after the experiment of 4-day workweek  find?

54% of employees had better balance of work and home responsibilities

Key benefits reported across multiple international pilots and studies include substantial improvements in employee happiness, reduced workplace stress, and enhanced work-life balance.

Title:

Content: Ina Opperman
Business Journalist
3 minute read
26 Feb 2023
10:00 am

Largest 4-day week trial results good news for future of work

Ina Opperman

Will a 4-day workweek work? It seems that employees and employers are happy.

The results of the world’s largest 4-day week trial is good news for the future of work, with new research showing that these results are largely in line with existing global evidence, further demonstrating the benefits of reduced-hour, output-focused working.

The pilot programme conducted in the UK by non-profit 4 Day Week Global, the UK’s 4-Day Week Campaign and think tank Autonomy, guided over 60 companies and almost 3 000 workers through a six-month trial of a 4-day week, with no loss of pay for workers.

This brings the global campaign’s total number of completed pilot participants to 91 companies and approximately 3 500 employees. Lead researcher, professor Juliet Schor of Boston College, says overall results show that almost every organisation will stick to a 4-day week after the trial, with 91% definitely continuing or planning to continue and another 4% leaning towards continuing. Only 4% of participants are definitely not continuing.

Participating companies rated their overall experience of the trials at an average of 8.5/10, with business productivity and business performance each scoring 7.5/10. Revenue increased by 35% over the trial periods when compared to similar periods from the previous year, while hiring increased and absenteeism decreased.

ALSO READ: 28 SA companies to implement 4-day work week on 1 March

Improved employee wellbeing and health

During the trial it was also found that the health and wellbeing of employees also improved, with significant increases observed in physical and mental health, time spent exercising and overall life and job satisfaction. Rates of stress, burnout and fatigue all decreased along with problems with sleep.

Even the environmental outcomes were encouraging, with commuting time falling across the full sample by a half hour per week.

Schor says she observed an encouraging consistency in the data, with results largely steady across workplaces of varying sizes, demonstrating this is an innovation which works for many types of organisations.

“There are also some interesting differences. We found that employees in non-profits and professional services had a larger average increase in time spent exercising, while those in construction and manufacturing enjoyed the largest reductions in burnout and sleep problems.”

Behavioural scientist and new CEO of 4-Day Week Global, Dr Dale Whelehan, explained the sample produced interesting differences in gender outcomes. “While men and women benefit from a 4-day week, women’s experience is generally better for burnout, life and job satisfaction, mental health and reduced commuting time.”

ALSO READ: 4-day work week pilot so successful, all participating companies sticking to it

4-day workweek also balances home tasks

Encouragingly, the research also showed that the burden of non-work duties appears to be balancing out, with more men taking on a greater share of housework and childcare.

Co-founder and MD of 4-Day Week Global, Charlotte Lockhart, says her team is delighted to be expanding the arguments in favour of a 4-day week with this new world-class academic research. “We look forward to adding our Australasian pilot results to this data set in the coming weeks and our European, South African, Brazilian and North American results in the coming months.”

4-Day Week Global was founded in New Zealand by entrepreneurs and philanthropists, Andrew Barnes and Charlotte Lockhart, following the world-renowned success of their pioneering trial of the 4-day week in Perpetual Guardian.

Their approach is based on the 100-80-100™ model designed by Lockhart alongside the Perpetual Guardian trial in 2018. That means 100% of the pay, for 80% of the time, in exchange for a commitment to deliver 100% of the output.

4-Day Week Global’s ambition is to make a 4-day week the new default and reduced working time the new standard.

What did  the trial of 4-day workwee in New Zealand show?

What did a survey on 4-day workweek conducted in Hong Kong show?

61% of respondents said employers could implement a four-day workweek to improve employees' mental health.

What did surveys conducted in London before and after the experiment of 4-day workweek  find?

54% of employees had better balance of work and home responsibilities

What has the implementation 4-day wrokweek in Dubai, UAE indicated?

Increase in employee and customer satisfaction.

For example, the 4 Day Week Global initiative originating from New Zealand conducted pilots in countries like the UK, Ireland, North America, and New Zealand itself, demonstrating consistent increases in employee satisfaction and productivity without income loss .

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4 days a week? 30% of U.S. companies are looking to retain talent
Four days a week seems to be the trend. The non-profit organization 4 Day Week Global has participated in pilot projects in a number of countries, including the United States, Ireland, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and the results have proved to be good and have unexpected benefits.
Not only are office workers welcome, the boss is also considering the four-day work system.
A new survey of corporate CEOs by KPMG, the world ’ s top accounting and professional consulting firm, shows that nearly a third (30%) of large U.S. companies are exploring new work arrangements, working four or four and a half days a week.
Executives consider that in a hot workplace, many employees feel overworked and underpaid, and must find ways to attract and retain talent.
According to Gallup Poll, 77 percent of U.S. employees believe that working four days a week will have a positive impact on their health, with 46 percent saying it will have an "extremely positive" impact.
Last year, more than 40 companies in the United States and Canada participated in the "global four-day work" organization of four days a week pilot project, the results of the trial also satisfied the participating bosses that the four-day work system did not affect the company's income, employees' leave and sick days were reduced by 25%, and the company's internal time spent on administrative procedures was reduced by 15%.
But Paul Knopp, chairman and CEO of KPMG USA, said in an interview with CNN that it is too early to implement a four-day week, and that executives are working hard to find the best solution and will continue to experiment and adjust.
In addition, the shorter work week system is not applicable everywhere.
Knapp noted that while the four-day week might make sense for finance, marketing and some other office jobs, it doesn ’ t work for industries like health care.
He believes that a universal four-day workweek could take years, but that using artificial intelligence (AI) will make employees more efficient.
At present, AI can only automate daily tasks such as making presentations, emails, and writing reports, but in the future, generative AI may make four-day work a reality.
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What did  the trial of 4-day workwee in New Zealand show?

The employees were happier
The productivity  increased

This positive effect is attributed partly to reduced stress and absenteeism as employees can better manage personal and family commitments, returning to work refreshed and more innovative .

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Content: To increase production and care for the family.
Saudi writer calls for "4" days of work and study
Journalist Omar Al-Omari calls for the application of the system of work and study for 4 days a week, considering that the subject has become worthy of study, as studies showed that employees who work (4) days a week achieved the same levels of productivity, but also showed positive levels in job satisfaction, teamwork and balance between work and caring for families, which increased their loyalty to the facilities in which they work.
Decreased motivation to be in the workplace
4 thoughts on “4 days a week?! ”
In Makkah newspaper, Al-Omari says: There is no relationship between productivity and the length of work, and the headquarters of the school is not the only place to learn, contributed by the presence of modern technology and advanced communication system, artificial intelligence and speed of information exchange and automation, all in its great purpose to serve man and save his time from daily routines, thus decreasing the need to be in the workplace. Innovative thinking, wider spaces of creative products and the acquisition of new skills to make real progress and development difference and impact, and this can only be achieved by creating a comfortable balance between social life and human humanity and the harsh official working environment. ”
Business Idea (4) days trending in recent months
While the idea of working for four days has been popular in recent months, and has been successful in a number of developed countries recently, it is not a product of the moment, so recent studies have shown that employees who are overworked by long work periods and transport to work are actually less productive than the average productivity of employees who work in the same field for less time and have more freedom.
Employees achieved the same levels of productivity
“Studies have shown that employees who work with the idea of   working four days a week achieved the same levels of productivity, but also showed positive levels of job satisfaction, teamwork, work-life balance and loyalty to the facilities in which they work.
People feel happy and satisfied
“I believe that the idea of working four days a week will increase some of the important global rankings as a soft power in enhancing the presence on the world map, namely (World Happiness Index), (World Wellbeing Index) and (Quality of Life), thus reflecting this on the ranking of the best cities and places to live in the world. Other contributing factors include additional income, social support, family empowerment, quality of health and education, security, absence of corruption and the level of freedoms enjoyed by individuals. ”
Greater care for families
According to several European research findings, working four days a week promotes work-life balance and greater personal and social space for the individual; employees will be able to spend more time with their families, better reconcile care and work obligations, be more committed to their tasks and duties, and less likely to be stressed or take sick leave; as a result, they return to work ready to face new challenges in solving problems. And promote the presence of innovation and creativity in the work to achieve efficiency and competition. ”
The subject is worth studying.
“I think the topic has become worthy of study at the level of the number of school days and the number of working days to enhance the quality of life, create wider social spaces, and enhance the happiness and mental health index, ” concluded Al-Omari.
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What did  the trial of 4-day workwee in New Zealand show?

What did surveys conducted in London before and after the experiment of 4-day workweek  find?

54% of employees had better balance of work and home responsibilities

What has the implementation 4-day wrokweek in Dubai, UAE indicated?

Increase in employee and customer satisfaction.

In large-scale trials such as the UK pilot involving over 3,000 employees and more than 60 companies, and the Icelandic trials covering a significant portion of the public sector workforce, clear evidence of improved well-being, reduced sick leave, and increased worker happiness emerged.

These pilots confirmed that productivity could be maintained or even increased under the 4-day workweek arrangement .

What did  the trial of 4-day workwee in New Zealand show?

What has the implementation 4-day wrokweek in Dubai, UAE indicated?

Survey data from the US also shows that approximately 30% of large companies are exploring shorter workweeks to address talent retention challenges related to overwork and burnout.

How many large American companies may implement 4-day workweek according to a survey of CEOs by KPMG?

In North America, pilots have similarly observed reduced sick leave and administrative time without negatively impacting revenue streams .

Companies that have permanently adopted the 4-day workweek, like the San Francisco e-commerce startup, report sustained gains in productivity and employee happiness, with overwhelming support from both staff and management.

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San Francisco Startup Permanently Implemented Employees: Increased Efficiency
San Francisco unicorn startup Bolt announces new employee benefits: a permanent four-day workweek.
The e-commerce development company trialed the system last fall, and the results were very positive.
“I can ’ t think of a better way to run this company, ” said Ryan Breslow, founder and CEO.
Breslow said that with the implementation of the program, the company has increased productivity, streamlined workflows, and employees are happy.
At the end of the three-month pilot program, Bolt conducted an opinion survey and 94% of employees and 91% of management wanted the program to continue.
In addition, 84% of employees reported increased productivity, 86% reported increased productivity, and 84% found a better work-life balance.
Breslow noted that the idea is not to increase the number of hours employees work, but to increase their productivity.
After the implementation of the plan, the concentration of employees during working hours has increased significantly.
“Many companies are like ‘ theater ’ where people care more about appearances than the work itself, so there are endless meetings and endless reports, ” Breslow added.
In this case, it is impossible to exclude noise from the core of the problem. "
With 550 full-time employees, Bolt is one of the few companies in the United States to implement a four-day workweek.
Supporters of the system hope that this approach will be adopted by more businesses, especially at a time when the focus is on attracting and retaining employees.
Millions of people in the United States have quit their jobs in the Great Resignation over the past few months, a record 4.5 million last November alone.
Joe O ’ Connor, Global Experiment Program Manager at 4 Day Week Global, said: “The companies we ’ ve helped transition to a four-day week say it ’ s significantly broadened the pool of potential candidates. ”
In fact, in July last year, Members of the United States introduced a bill to reduce the working week from the standard 40 hours to 32 hours, but no progress has been made.
The four-day work week is not applicable to all businesses, because the business model of each company is different.
“It should be seen as a starting point for how companies can work smarter and more efficiently, ” O ’ Connor said.
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What companies are adopting 4-day workweek?

Mainly nonprofit and small tech companies under 1,000 employees

These outcomes are frequently credited to a focus on work efficiency—such as cutting unnecessary meetings and streamlining workflows—rather than simply compressing hours into fewer days .

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Content: The four-day work week is welcome, but some challenges remain

This shift has thrown up interesting questions on macro and micro levels that over time will need answering

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The sin of presenteeism is shaping up as a pre-pandemic anachronism, and the principal reason for this is not just remote working but an emerging historic global shift towards a shorter working week.

The global headaches from supply constraints following Covid-19 disruption have overshadowed equally profound changes in the labour market. For some bosses, there is rationing not just of the number of workers but the time they are willing to work. As people reassess their work-life balance, responsible employers and some countries are looking at the advantages of compressed hours on the job.

The UAE is a trailblazer in this regard, with most emirates having formally adopted a 4.5-day working model. Sharjah has gone further by opting for a four-day model. Reporting last week in this newspaper found that its residents said they are healthier and happier, enjoying more weekend flexibility and having more time with their families.

Many forecasts over recent years have been very wide of the mark about the economic trajectory of the big developed economies. The Resolution Foundation, a UK-based think tank that looks at work, points out that in analysing the pandemic, “many feared a house price bust, expected the inflation spike to be small/short-lived, said unemployment/insolvencies for workers/firms respectively would surge and claimed this would be a ‘she-cession’. None happened”.

Technology is the driver of all this, and the trend may over time become irresistible

Analysis of Google searches in the UK from an employment agency recently reported the four-day work week had gained popularity among people on the hunt for their next job opportunity. “Google searches for "4 day week jobs" exploded a spectacular 1,011 per cent in early 2022, when compared to 2021,” according to the firm’s research.

One of Britain’s biggest and best-known corporate brands, the department store M&S, has hired a well-known female executive who is a prominent four-day week champion, Katie Bickerstaffe. She said her role was compatible with shorter hours, even though it is a round-the-clock operation.

“We’re a seven-days-a-week, 24-hour operation and that’s what you do, but I’ve always done that [four days] because it gives me the freedom to spend some downtime with my kids and not feel that I don’t have the opportunity to do that during the week,” she explained.

The news coincided with the announcement that 70 UK companies had voluntarily joined a scheme to alter the working week basis of their business. Signing on to a pledge to pay 100 per cent of wages for 80 per cent of the hours worked means much more than just creating new rotas. It means altering the internal working patterns of the business and finding new ways to accommodate latency in the workforce.

Not everyone is convinced this can deliver a kind of workplace nirvana.

The Centre for Policy Studies carried out some research last year that estimated that a four-day week would have a big cost to the economy if productivity levels remained constant. The annual shortfall to the economy would be £45 billion ($55.42bn). On more generous calculations, if a 6 per cent increase in productivity could be achieved in the first decade of the reform, the loss overall could be pared back to £17bn. The analyst behind the figures believes the evidence for productivity gains from compressing hours and having shorter working weeks is extremely limited.

That is not much of an argument for not experimenting with shorter weeks. Employees already job-share and expect work-from-home arrangements throughout the work force. In office-based roles or project work, the flexibility to complete the workload that comes with the job most obviously lends itself to working with a defined, shorter time frame.

There are hurdles for other jobs. Customer-facing roles or service functions will still need to be provided across a far longer time-frame than four days or 32 hours. Unlike in Sharjah, there is no clear directive in the UK for a common day that extends the weekend. Indeed, many people working four days chose a non-consecutive day, such as Wednesday, for the non-working option.

Without the government plumping for Friday as part of a three-day weekend, it is likely that businesses will experience co-ordination both internally and with clients and supplies if substantial numbers in the workforce are missing in action for part of the working week.

There are also concerns around the equality of the development. Can it be true that more flexibility would allow women, in particular, to better balance childcare obligations and thus erode the disadvantage with men?

And as the work-from-home phenomenon has shown, the higher-paid employees have snapped up the main benefits from structural changes in how people work. There is little to suppose that this trend would not emerge from the four-day week.

Technology is, of course, the driver of all this, and the trend may over time become irresistible.

Certainly, the difficulties of drawing an absolute boundary between the working day and your time revolve around the fact that your email is always in your pocket on the phone. That is double-edged. It would be difficult for employers to play another card: offering people four days’ pay, not the salaried five.

Published: June 13, 2022, 4:00 AM

What has the implementation 4-day wrokweek in Dubai, UAE indicated?

The largest trial to date, involving over 3,500 employees across 91 companies, found a 35% increase in revenue alongside better recruitment, reduced absenteeism, and pronounced improvements in mental and physical health.

How much did some companies' revenue increaseby implementing 4-day workweek?

What did  the trial of 4-day workwee in New Zealand show?

What has the implementation 4-day wrokweek in Dubai, UAE indicated?

Increase in productivity
Increase in work quality indicators

Women, in particular, experienced greater benefits, including a more equitable distribution of non-work duties, demonstrating the model’s potential for enhancing workplace equality .

Despite such promising results, the 4-day workweek faces several significant challenges and barriers to widespread adoption.

Title:

Content: Since June 1 this year, more than 3,000 employees from more than 60 companies in the United Kingdom have conducted a social experiment with a six-month “four-day work ”.
Since 2018, the non-profit organization of "4 Day Week Global" wants to test whether the public interest of "80% working time - 100% wages - 100% productivity" and "three days off a week, labor and management win" really exists.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak so far in 2020, many enterprises have adopted the method of “working from home, diverting work ”, and in the long process of the epidemic, working from home and working from home has become an emerging work style.
Since the end of the epidemic this year, many countries have returned to their original or new jobs, whether they are blue-collar and white-collar workers who have left or changed jobs.
However, in more than two years, the transformation of various workplaces in the enterprise to survive, and the labor compromise of "unpaid leave + retained work" have made more and more pioneer projects of "four days a week", and the industry category has become more and more diversified, becoming a new opportunity to promote.
Among them, the most representative is Iceland.
According to media reports in the middle of last year: “The three-day weekend experiment in Iceland has been a success, and workers ’ happiness and productivity have improved ”; the reason for this is:“ Employees face less workplace stress, anxiety, depression and exhaustion, and therefore work harder and take fewer sick days; workers feel more leisure time, and therefore are more committed to their work. ”
This conclusion, in addition to the ethical questions of the willingness of enterprises and workers to participate, and whether or not to remain anonymous, also requires the testing of more rigorous research methods, such as the length of the experiment, whether the industry type and size of the experiment is consistent, and the working tolerance of the workers involved in the experiment, are worthy of further investigation.
On the other hand, the three-day experiment, the success stories of Iceland, New Zealand, and British Columbia, Canada, did not clearly describe the type of industry, the development of the industry in each country, and whether the size of the enterprises in the industry varies greatly.
In addition, across all continents of the world, countries have different levels of economic development, industrial structures have their own characteristics, and the government originally conferred statutory labor rights and interests, are also different.
In addition to industries that are not suitable for at-home work, the sense of alienation of human relationships, the synergy of face-to-face communication, and whether innovation requires teamwork have become the focus of discussion.
On the front page of the “Four Days a Week Worldwide ” website, the home page shows where the current pioneer projects are located on every continent around the world. Surprisingly, Central and South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia each launched at least five projects, but in Canada and the United States, there is only one pilot project.
Moreover, the website reveals that “working four days a week makes 78% of employees feel happier and less stressed. ”
It can also be seen that not only developed countries are promoting, in fact, more developing countries are also conducting experiments.
While there is a lack of a more convincing description of the experimental design, it is clear that this is indeed a possible new type of workplace.
Because of this, in addition to the pilot of national enterprises to cooperate with international non-profit organizations, there are also governments taking the lead in responding.
Spain ’ s leftist political party, once launched a “three days off ” policy in 2021, and the Spanish government agreed to test the new work system of“ 32 hours per week (8 hours per day) ” on a limited scale. 200 companies are willing to participate, and 3,000 to 6,000 workers benefit.
The result of such a trial gives more room for imagination to "take three days off every week, and employees will win both."
The social experiment of "80% of working hours - 100% of wages - 100% of productivity" has important policy significance for the harmony of labor relations and the long-term development of the economy.
"High working hours" does not mean "high productivity", which is the general consensus of the current society.
"Shorten working hours, wages unchanged", helps companies retain employees, perhaps without controversy; but whether it can also maintain 100% of the work output is questioned by the business community.
After the epidemic, "three days off a week, labor and management win" is applicable to some specific industry categories, and the nature of the work of individual employees may also be more widely distributed in various industries.
And the flexibility of working hours, the heterogeneity of the workplace, the universalization of work dispatch, and even the high expectations of the young generation for "enterprise decentralization" are all the help of "working four days a week", which may be a major challenge for enterprises in the future.
# Work # Employee # Business # Home # 4 Days

What challenges will the companies with diverse workforce have for implementing 4-day workweek??

Complicated to roll out for large companies

What were the results of UAE's trial of 4-day workday?

A 90% increase in job performance, happiness, and mental health.

One primary concern involves sector-specific applicability—certain industries like healthcare, emergency services, and manufacturing may find it difficult or impossible to reduce working days without affecting service continuity or incurring higher costs due to shift coverage needs .

What are the views that object 4-day workweek?

It may lead to a large increase in labor costs

What did Labor economist Jonathan Boys say about 4-day workweek?

Healthcare industry may face more problems.

Employers often grapple with coordinating schedules and managing potential disruptions to business operations.

These difficulties emphasize the need for tailored approaches rather than one-size-fits-all solutions, considering the nature of work and customer expectations.

Concerns about pay equity and workload distribution also persist.

While the most successful pilots maintain full pay alongside reduced hours, fear of income loss or increased intensity during working days troubles many employees.

The workload during the compressed week can sometimes intensify, leading to risk of burnout if not carefully managed.

Clear communication and employee involvement in the transition process are vital to mitigate these issues.

The model’s success often hinges on trust and cooperation between employers and workers, as highlighted in initiatives led by New Zealand entrepreneur Andrew Barnes .

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Content: [Workplace Culture] Non-Profit Organization 4 Day Week Global Advocates for Corporate Transition to “4-Day Workday ”
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“4 Day Week Global ” explores and studies with businesses to see if they can stay 100% productive if their employees work 20% less hours, four days a week.
(Data Image)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have changed their work patterns, such as hybrid work and flexible working arrangements such as the four-day workweek, to reduce the chance of infection due to social contact.
However, in 2018, before the outbreak of the epidemic, New Zealand entrepreneur Andrew Barnes had already piloted the four-day work system for his company, and later established the non-profit group “4 Day Week Global ” to promote and guide the implementation of the four-day work system to global enterprises.
Andrew Barnes experimented with a four-day workweek for 240 employees at his company, Perpetual Guardian, which turned out to be a great success, with employees becoming happier and more productive, making it a permanent system.
Report: 92% of HR executives plan to use AI to enhance talent recruitment and management processes
Andrew Barnes then founded “4 Day Week Global ” and spoke in 99 countries on the topic of the four-day workweek, working with businessmen, academics and researchers around the world to bring productivity-focused flexible working to life.
“4 Day Week Global ” explores and studies with companies to see if they can stay 100% productive if their employees work 20% less hours, four days a week. Andrew Barnes says it ’ s not just about work-life balance, it ’ s about how to increase productivity to make the business better.
Focus more on production and return time to employees
“The idea of working four days a week is what I can give my employees as an incentive to focus on production, ” says Andrew Barnes.
If they can use their time more wisely, it makes sense to give it back to them. ” So he created the “100: 80: 100 framework ”, which allows employees to trade 100% of their salary, 80% of their time, for 100% productivity.
Report: 60% of employees have misused email to leak company data
In June this year, 20 companies from Oceania participated in the 4-day workweek pilot project of “4 Day Week Global ” and collaborated with Boston College, the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne, and the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand to guide companies through each step of the implementation trial.
Since January, similar pilot projects have been running in Ireland, North America and the UK, with 125 companies enrolled.
Andrew Barnes warns entrepreneurs: “Your biggest risk right now is not whether or not to try the four-day workday, but whether or not your biggest competitor has implemented it before you. ”
He emphasized that if entrepreneurs can ’ t re-imagine how the business works, employees will leave you and choose leaders with a broader vision.
For each episode of "Entrepreneurship ideas", please come to Hong Kong corporate brands to share tips for doing business under the epidemic.
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Regulatory and economic environments also influence feasibility.

For instance, Russia’s discourse focuses more on traditional holiday structures, with minimal exploration of shorter workweeks.

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Weekend outfit: when should the Russians rest
2022-04-29 16: 24: 12
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According to surveys, 40% of Russians are ready for the long May holidays to abandon the long New Year holidays, 60% would like to rest longer in the winter.
How to determine how many days off workers need to recover and at what time of the year — figured out “Izvestia ”.
When Russians want to rest
The service “Rabota.ru ” interviewed in April 3 thousand users of the portal from all regions of Russia to find out how they relate to the May holidays.
It turned out that 14% of respondents are going to extend their weekend, taking a vacation between the May holidays.
72% decided not to do so, and the rest at the time of the survey did not decide on plans for three working days between May 1 and 9.
At the same time, 68% of the study participants would like the May holidays to continue from May 1 to May 10 without a break, only 32% were against.
40% of respondents would agree to abandon the long New Year holidays in favor of long May holidays, 60% would like to leave everything as it is.
Photo: TASS / Kirill Kukhmar
A similar survey was conducted by SuperJob.
The results are similar: of the 1,600 representatives of the economically active population with permanent jobs interviewed, 13% of all districts of the country reported that they would take a vacation between the May holidays.
At the same time, Russians with an income of more than 80 thousand rubles want to extend their vacation on holidays, and more often men than women.
According to SuperJob, similar results are obtained annually - last year, 13% of working citizens also reported a desire to take a few days of vacation between the May holidays.
On the question of whether it is worth exchanging long winter holidays for other vacation options, SuperJob interviewed its users at the end of December 2021 - when the leader of the LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky proposed to cancel the fixed New Year holidays and add these weekends to the vacations of Russians.
Then the initiative to refuse the New Year holidays was supported by about the same 38% of Russians.
Moreover, the right to rest in January was more often defended by people older than 45 years.
Why extend the May holidays
One of the latest proposals for the May holidays came in early April from the Deputy speaker of the state Duma Vladislav Davankov, who called for the extension of the May holidays in 2022 from 1 to 10 may, as it “will help people prepare food for the fall ”, so that“ food security was in order this fall. ”
He recalled that last year the May holidays were extended due to the pandemic.
At the same time, the deputy said that it is not proposed to constantly make the weekend in May long, since entrepreneurs have problems in this regard.
Later, Davankov said that he received a response from the government on his initiative - at the federal level, the proposal was not supported, but allowed each region to prolong the holidays independently.
This proposal was listened to only in the Republic of Adygea - the local Ministry of Labor reported that the days off will be from May 1 to 5 and from May 7 to 10.
There was only one working day, May 6.
This is explained by the fact that the republican non-working holidays of Uraza Bayram and the Day of Remembrance of the Dead (Radonitsa) (May 2 and 3) coincided with federal holidays, so they were moved to May 4 and 5.
Photo: Izvestia / Dmitry Korotaev
But in general, legislators and regions reacted negatively to the idea of additional days off.
Thus, the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on labor Yaroslav Nilov said that the additional weekend will be a serious burden on the Russian economy.
Other deputies pointed out that not for all regions May is the time to sow fields, but there are supporters of this approach to the May holidays.
How many weekends do people need?
Associate Professor of the Department of Labor and Social Policy of the Institute of Public Service and Management (IGSU) of the RANEPA Konstantin Dobromyslov notes that according to tradition, weekends in May in Russia are considered more important, since at this time there is a sowing season.
“But to make a decision, it is necessary to conduct political and economic studies aimed at studying the impact of holidays on the country ’ s economy, ” he told Izvestia.
He believes that it is not necessary to specifically review the number of holidays, and the practice of postponing weekends allows us to form a “normal cycle of the state ’ s life, depending on economic, political, epidemiological and other situations. ”
— Discussing a possible reduction or increase in the number of holidays, of course, you need to proceed from socio-economic expediency, — said Dobromyslov. — Russia is not resting in a single impulse — we have continuous production, watches, transport, medical services, commercial enterprises, entertainment industry, museums, theaters.
These areas continue to work regardless of holidays and weekends, thanks to which a certain economic balance is created: while one part of the population rests, the other gets the opportunity to earn money.
Photo: TASS / Sergey Savostyanov
He believes that in the light of the discussion on the reduction of the working week, the issue of January and May holidays is not relevant at all - the duration of these holidays should be determined annually depending on the current situation.
Sociologist Sergei Talanov also agrees that any decisions should be made on the basis of scientific and economic research.
– It is necessary to take into account, and sociological surveys show that the majority of our working citizens are more important than high incomes, and not long weekends, – he said in an interview with Izvestia. – If we talk about the New Year and May holidays, then rest from December 31 to January 7 and from May 1 to May 3, and then May 9 – this is quite enough to restore your strength and not particularly break your usual working rhythm.
Deputy Head of the Federal Center for Mediation, Chairman of the All-Russian Trade Union of Mediators Vladimir Kuznetsov believes that the motives for changing the number of holidays can be purely economic.
“To illustrate, we can cite the example of India: there, public holidays cost a billion rupees (about $25 million) — 21 official plus an additional 9-10 in each state, ” he told Izvestia.
Vladimir Kuznetsov points out that approaches to this issue in different countries really differ greatly, and cites the opinion of the Malaysian political economist Charles Santiago, who noted that a large number of official non-working days for the majority of the population of Malaysia is “a welcome and often the only opportunity to take a break from hard work. ”
Photo: TASS / Anatoly Zhdanov
Those businessmen who complain about the excessive number of holidays, Santiago believes, should understand that “rested workers are also an increase in labor productivity.
And in the long term – an undoubted benefit for the economy of the country as a whole, ” — quotes Kuznetsov. — Consequently, the approach to determining the number of holidays can be due to both national characteristics and the economic structure of a particular state, and speaking of Russia, it can be noted that it is still advisable to maintain the current number of holidays in the year.
Elena Heifetz, a leading analyst in the Economics and Social Development section of the CSR, notes that there are 14 non-working holidays in Russia, and this figure is significantly higher than in more economically developed countries: in Germany — 13, in the UK — 9, in the United States — 10.
— The exception is Japan, where the number of public non-working days is 15, but it must be taken into account that these days are compensation for a small paid vacation, which is 10 days, — she told “Izvestia ”. — In Russia, the duration of annual paid vacation is 28 calendar days, and for certain categories — more.
How Holidays Affect the Economy
“It is obvious that lengthening the May holidays without reducing winter or other holidays is not feasible in the current economic situation, ” says Elena Heifetz. – On average, one non-working day costs the country about 200 billion rubles, so it is impractical to increase the burden on the economy.
At the same time, she says, the postponement of winter holidays to May can be considered as a reasonable decision due to the fact that most Russian citizens take leave on May 4-8.
— It is impossible to say unequivocally that the day off / holiday is a loss for the economy, — believe in the Accounts Chamber. — For many sectors, weekends are, on the contrary, the most favorable time.
For example, for cafes and restaurants, hotels.
For some sectors, there is not much difference between holidays and working days – for example, in enterprises with a continuous production cycle.
Photo: TASS / Gavriil Grigorov
The department told Izvestia that it did not conduct relevant studies, but in general, in accordance with the principles of evidence-based policy, studies confirming the effectiveness of the transfer are needed to resolve the issue of changing the structure of weekends.
Such data could show whether post-holiday productivity gains offset economic losses by fewer working days.
The Department of International and Regional Cooperation of the Accounts Chamber reported that attempts to study the problem of the impact of holidays on the country's economy were carried out in other countries.
At the same time, it is stipulated that this issue in fact remains insufficiently studied in world practice.
— Existing studies do not allow to draw an unambiguous conclusion about the positive or negative economic effect, — noted in the Department. — The results of such studies are often contradictory.
For example, in 2015, PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia (PWC) assessed how the introduction of two days off in Victoria — Easter Sunday and Friday before the Australian Football League Grand Final — would affect the economic development of the state.
Production losses or economic costs were estimated at 717-898 million Australian dollars (about $628 million).
Also, the introduction of non-working days led to an increase in salary payments in the amount of 252 million to 286 million Australian dollars per year ($179 – 203 million) for those who were forced to work on holidays.
But this fact did not have a negative impact on the state economy, since it meant only the redistribution of funds from employer to employee.
On the other hand, positive factors were noted that can partially compensate for economic losses.
Annual in-state tourism spending increased by AUD $17 – 51 million ($12 – 35 million), as well as spending on sports events by AUD $7 – 49 million ($5 – 35 million).
Such a less obvious aspect as the individual benefit of citizens from additional free time was also analyzed.
The value of this time is calculated in the range of 50 to 100% of average earnings and, according to PWC, amounted to 156 – 312 million Australian dollars ($110 – 221 million).
Photo: TASS / Sergey Malgavko
An attempt to assess the impact of holidays on the UK economy in 2020 was made by the BBC.
It was concluded that the positive effect will extend mainly to the sphere of trade, tourism and leisure - one day off contributes to the growth of income of small shops in the country by an average of 253 pounds sterling.
In 2019, two additional holidays increased the profits of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK by £118 million.
However, the overall extent of the losses of the British economy was not analyzed.
The Department of International and Regional Cooperation of the Accounts Chamber indicates that the experience of individual foreign companies in introducing a four-day working week may be relevant in the context of studying this problem.
So, in 2019, Microsoft tested such a working mode in the framework of the “Summer competition Work-Life Choice Challenge 2019 ” in Japan.
On Fridays, employees were given a weekend without a pay cut, and it turned out that the productivity of one employee increased by almost 40%.
However, the company said that a number of other factors contributed to this.
There were other positive effects of the four-day week – a 23% reduction in energy consumption, a reduction in print volumes by almost 60%, a reduction in the duration of workshops by almost 50% – from 1 hour to 30 minutes.
- Analysis of the experience of foreign countries shows that the introduction of additional non-working days leads to financial losses on the scale of the national economy, - noted in the Accounts Chamber. - Nevertheless, part of the losses is compensated by increasing costs of citizens.
As a result, there is an increase in some sectors of the economy - mainly the sphere of recreation and tourism.
It would be possible to assess the need for long vacations from the point of view of medicine – when is it more useful to rest?
But even here everything is not clear, says the doctor-therapist, endocrinologist, cardiologist, deputy chief physician of the clinic "Mprofico" Alexey Zhito.
- Someone likes winter holidays and can spend them qualitatively, - he told "Izvestia". - And others, for example, in the May holidays is simply bad - because of allergies, it would be convenient for them to change the place at the time of flowering and fly away from their allergens.
Zhito emphasizes that 10 days is a good time to have a good rest and gain strength, but a lot here depends on each person individually.
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