Following on from our previous comments on the trial of the four-day week, a recent article has suggested that, according to the campaign spearheading the trial, 100 UK companies have permanently adopted a four-day working week since the pandemic.
In this article, Chris Dobbs looks at how four-day weeks work and provides advice for employers when changing work patterns.
Which companies are doing 4 day weeks?
These are not the same companies which have been involved in the formal six-month pilot scheme, but rather companies who have otherwise voluntarily adopted these working patterns.
These 100 companies only account for a very small percentage of the UK workforce and between them only employ approximately 2500 staff members.
However, what is telling from the article is that a significant majority of those who trialled the four-day week have evidently found it to work and that staff are both happy and willing to continue with the new arrangements.
Do four-day weeks affect productivity?
Of those companies surveyed as part of the trial, 95% reported there had either been no reduction in productivity or that there had even been an increase in productivity.
How does a 4 day working week work?
The four-day week is a working pattern in which staff continue to work there usual five-day hours compressed into four working days.
The most common arrangement is to simply take one working days’ worth of hours and spread it across the other four.
Those companies which took part in the trial for the campaign predominantly had staff working between 32 and 35 hours a week and had to certify that those workers would not earn any less working those hours across four days as opposed to five.
What is the 4 day/week trial?
A formal six-month trial period of 70 businesses across the UK was initiated in the summer of this year.
Those companies included businesses across a range of sectors, including banking, hospitality and the care sector.
At the midpoint of the trial scheme back in June, the pilot compass reported similar results suggesting that for many of them there had been no decrease in productivity and that workers were also benefiting from the arrangement.
The campaign group ‘4 Day Week’ highlighted lower commuting and childcare costs and that between these the average two child household could be saving around £300 a month.
Considerations when changing work patterns
Any change to a worker’s terms and conditions is a change to their employment contract.
Whether a four-day week, reduced hours, or a change to shifts or working patterns, employers need to consider that making such a fundamental change often requires the worker’s explicit consent.
How to mitigate claims when changing work patterns
Chris Dobbs says: “Where consent is not obtained, the worker may have claims for breach of contract and a unilateral change of two things such as pay and hours is also likely to be a significant enough breach to give rise to a constructive unfair dismissal claim.
Assuming the changes are agreed, businesses should be aware of the broader impact of such a major change to working patterns.
There is the need to ensure business continuity and that customers or clients are still getting a positive experience from the business.”
Advice for employers
Chris continues: “Beyond that, a change from five 7-hour days to four days of a little under 9 hours would be a fairly significant shift for most people.
It may not suit every worker and trial periods are almost certainly going to be appropriate.”
Will UK change to 4 day working week?
The formal six-month trial period finishes at the end of this year and a report on the findings is due to be published in 2023.
So far, what has been reported already does appear positive.
However, it must be taken into account that the sample size, when compared to the entire UK workforce, is relatively small and the only way that any given business will know whether such arrangements could work for them will ultimately be to carry out assessments and trials themselves.
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