The four day week - new research on the benefits and challenges

The four day work week is of increasing interest to organisations and employees - perhaps unsurprisingly. A recent UK trial has showed promising results; however flexible work arrangements have long been associated with both benefits and drawbacks and we need to ensure we understand these fully before introducing new ways of working.

Earlier this year the UK benefited from several bank holidays in quick succession. At Liverpool Business School we took the opportunity to ask people about their experiences of working a four day week in this context, in order to see what we could learn about a shorter work week.

Here are a few of our key findings - starting with the benefits:

• 51% of employees said that they were slightly or significantly more productive during the four day week following a bank holiday
• Many survey respondents talked about feeling more rested and relaxed, finding a wellbeing or work life balance improvement.
• Other benefits included reduced fatigue, reduced stress and appreciation of the opportunity to keep on top of other necessary non-work activities such as jobs around the home or personal tasks.??

Survey respondents told us that they spent the extra time resulting from the shorter working week spending time with family and friends, eating out, relaxing, activities related to health and wellbeing and undertaking hobbies.

However, challenges were also identified too:

• 67.5% of survey respondents said that their workload during the four day week increased either slightly or significantly
• Many survey respondents commented on the need to condense five days’ work into four, and that their overall workload did not change as a result of the reduced hours.?For some, this was a cause of anxiety and stress.?
• Respondents talked about the impact on the rest of the working week, using words like ‘squeezed’ and ‘crammed’, including with meetings that would normally be spread over a longer working week. For some respondents, this led to working longer hours on the other working days and a more intense working week.

Although the survey has a relatively small sample size, it is clear that bank holiday related shorter working weeks have both advantages and disadvantages for employees.? ?Whilst employees described benefiting on a personal level as a result of the additional time off, this had consequences in the workplace including a more intense working week, and a pressure (real or perceived) to ‘cram’ five days’ work into five. ??Previous research into four day weeks has highlighted the potential for work intensification (this is an issue with flexible work in general) – but has also found that this is a trade-off that employees are often prepared to make, given that they value flexible working so highly.

Organisations implement four day work weeks in different ways. Some forms of the four day week expressly involve employees being required to maintain a ‘normal’ (generally five day week) level of productivity in order to retain the ability to work that shorter week. As our survey highlights, this could lead to stress, pressure and work intensification.??

Work intensification has important wellbeing implications – employers who are considering implementing a four day week need to give careful consideration to how they can implement such a pattern without negatively influencing employee health and wellbeing.? The four day week can bring benefits to employees and organisations alike - but we need to ensure that this potential does not come at the cost of reduced wellbeing and work life balance.

Our research data is undergoing more detailed analysis and we hope to publish the final outcomes later this year. Research team: Gemma Dale, Hannah Wilson, Matthew Tucker.