Four-day Week Made Permanent For Most UK Firms In World's Biggest Trial - Slashd...
source link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/02/22/1336219/four-day-week-made-permanent-for-most-uk-firms-in-worlds-biggest-trial
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Four-day Week Made Permanent For Most UK Firms In World's Biggest Trial
AmiMoJo writes: Most of the UK companies that took part in the world's biggest ever four-day working week trial have made the policy permanent, research shows. Of the 61 organisations that took part in a six-month UK pilot in 2022, 54 (89%) are still operating the policy a year later, and 31 (51%) have made the change permanent. More than half (55%) of project managers and CEOs said a four-day week -- in which staff worked 100% of their output in 80% of their time -- had a positive impact on their organisation, the report found. For 82% this included positive effects on staff wellbeing, 50% found it reduced staff turnover, while 32% said it improved job recruitment. Nearly half (46%) said working and productivity improved. The report's author, Juliet Schor, professor of sociology at Boston College, said the results showed "real and long lasting" effects. "Physical and mental health, and work-life balance are significantly better than at six months. Burnout and life satisfaction improvements held steady," she said.
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The market will force them. It's hard to attract talent if you don't give them something they want. And younger people in general are more interested in a sensible work/life balance than more money.
If you don't offer sensible conditions, all you get is the dregs of the barrel. And no company can compete with an inferior product, or an inferior staff.
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tell that to the third world lol
im just wondering if you can fit 5 days work into 4, were you actually working that hard in the first place? Im as lazy as the next man, but you have to call a spade a spade.
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Can you actually work "that" hard? I mean, at all.
Yes, we worked "more" in the past. 48, 54, 60 hours a week. Rather, though, we spent more time working but accomplished less. My grandfather worked 6 days a week, and often close to 10 hours a day. But that work was interrupted quite often with times when he had to stop and rest, get from point A to point B, get his stuff ready, wait for something or someone and so on.
We have gained a lot of efficiency in the past 50ish years. Productivity went up 200 to 200
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If you work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, you get 40 hours. If you work 10 hours a day for 4 days a week, you still get 40 hours, but you now have three FULL days for yourself(theoretically, if you don't work for a slave driver who expects you to be available for work related calls every day of the week until 11pm or later).
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That isn't what is happening here, however. They're compressing a 40hr week into 32hrs.
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From the article: "Organisations reduced working hours by an average of 6.6 hours to reach a 31.6-hour week. Most gave their staff one full day off a week, either universal or staggered. The report found that protected days off were more effective than those on which staff were “on call” or sometimes expected to work."
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Or rather, they're not expanding 12-20 hours of work into 40.
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Well, maybe it depends on the field. My team is embarrassingly called the Elites where I'm at now. We are paid very well, and our work is set by the task, not X number of hours per week. And the performance must be top tier, or else you are given all the time off. That seldom happens, because for some weird reason, we enjoy our work.
Now in support of your thesis, yes - less young people are interested in that than might be expected. But we do have some millennials and younger who are interested and high
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Performance is not a function of time but of output.
One of the people I had (sadly he decided he wanted more money and I didn't have the ability to pay him what he was offered elsewhere) worked here for about 25-30 hours and got paid for full time, i.e. 40. Nobody complained. Because we all knew that he accomplished more than most people do in 40 hours.
And I don't need someone who puts some weight on a chair to keep it from flying off into orbit, I get someone who gets shit done.
Of course I could have insis
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Lol, so does being on the "Elites" team get you a higher salary?
I don't put the time in because the company isn't my friend and neither is my boss.
You know what working hard gets you? More work.
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> and neither is my boss.
People don't leave bad companies, they leave bad managers. Sounds like you are an example of the truth of that:(
Time to move on I think
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I like my boss. Calling him a friend, though, would be asking a bit much. We have a lot of mutual respect for each other and we can work well together, we both know that we benefit from having the other one. And yes, we've shared a beer, we've joked at the company BBQ, everything was great and dandy.
But calling someone a friend requires more than that, at least for me. A friend is someone that I call when the shit hits the fan and I have to bury a corpse.
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People don't leave bad companies, they leave bad managers.
Generally the two are linked. Bad managers lead to a bad company. I left my previous job not because my manager was bad, but because the people in the other groups were essentially incompetent and focused on processes rather than results. My manager agreed with the things I said because they could see it and knew I was right, but had no authority to do anything because of the higher ups who were focused on metrics above all.
As a result, -
Well, I can vouch that a part of my decision to retire some years back was due to getting a new manager that was an asshole. The rest of my outfit was pretty upset, including the Director, whom I worked closely with.
Then a different department in a different location snatched me up, paid me a lot, and It's been pretty enjoyable since then.
But I fear that poster just doesn't like working, and believes the man is out to get him.
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A pity that. Did you know that your boss is also a human? You've bought a fine narrative, I hope it makes you happy, and sometimes people get what they give.
You know what not working hard gets you?
You
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If you don't offer sensible conditions, all you get is the dregs of the barrel.
Depends on what the pay is....
Personally, I don't see the normal 5 day work week as a radically unfair system...?
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Compared to a 4 day work week with equal compensation? Yes, it is.
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Compared to a 4 day work week with equal compensation? Yes, it is.
Don't get me wrong....if offered, I'd take it.
Hell, I'd be thrilled if they offered me 0 days work for same pay.
I'll happily admit, I've spent a lot of my life studying to be a Powerball jackpot winner....I'd LOVE to not have to work anymore.
I've never quite understood people that said they'd continue to work even if they struck it rich...
Not me...I have fun things (and women) to do....
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Soon, the 4 day workweek will be too much. That sounds sarcastic, but it is not. It's all relative. Once upon a time, many or most people worked 6 days a week. Where I worked (but before I worked there, the 6 day workweek was cut to 5 8 hour days and Saturday 8 to noon. They were happy to get half a day off Saturday - but not for long. Then it became the 5 days, 8 hours. They were happy to have 2 days off. But not for long. Now going to 4 days makes people happy. I'm pretty certain it won't be for long. A
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need to cut down free overtime / make salary = no clock to punch.
their are places that if you work OT they don't pay you more. But come in late / need to levee early they doc your pay / make you take PTO to make up the gap.
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Best thing I ever did was take a pay cut to move into a non-exempt role.
If I work a minute over 8 hours, I'm now eligible for overtime. Most of the time, I'm not authorized for OT, so at 1630, I'm out the door and not a care in the world until the next morning. If someone comes up and asks me to do something just before I leave, my first question is "Can you authorize me for OT? No? Ok, we'll deal with this tomorrow." It's incredibly freeing.
On the other hand, when I'm on the customer site, OT is basically
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I don't get paid overtime. And definitely do not punch a clock. I will say that if I work a super long day, no one complains if I go home to take a catnap. Well, actually a couple people did complain a couple times, years ago at my last place - the complainers were asked if they wanted to take on the task that kept me there. Annnd crickets.
There are asshole places to work for certain.
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I don't get paid overtime. And definitely do not punch a clock.
You're being taken advantage of and smiling the entire time.
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And laughing all the way to the bank.
I have pride of accomplishment, respect, get top quality clothing gratis and other swag, meals, and an office with ceiling to floor glass and an incredible view.
If that is being taken advantage of, so be it.
Whether it's a different outlook on life and work, or what. Each person is welcome to figure out their outlook for themselves. If the idea that the man is keeping you down, and that work is something to be hated, if that brings you happiness, I'm all for it.
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Diminishing returns, which must at some point flip into negative territory.
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Not seeing the problem here. If machines don't result in greater human leisure, then it's time to smash the machines. We have a moral obligation to ourselves to make the world better to live in.
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Jobs vary drastically and what works well for a software firm or a bank could work poorly for a fireman, salesperson, pharmacist, or someone in another industry. Some people have jobs where they're expected to actually work every minute...for them, this is a blessing. Many others are basically "on-call." If you enforce 4 day workweeks small-businesses will just cut service rather than hire more people.
Oh, you want to see a dermatologist? Well, ours is only in Tues through Friday, so the wait will -
Stop, businesses are NOT realising ANYTHING - thirty-one (31) companies made the change permanent, with 23 more still operating under the pilot program that ended six months ago.
The headline on this story is wildly off - "31 (or 54) UK companies does not register as "most UK firms."
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