More than 3,000 workers from 70 enterprises will begin working a four-day week on full pay today, in the world’s largest test plan, as the country grapples with a labor shortage.
Campaign organization 4 Day Week Global, think tank Autonomy, and professors from Oxford, Cambridge, and Boston College in the United States are coordinating the initiative.
The Royal Society of Biology, hipster London brewery Pressure Drop, Southampton computer game developer Yo Telecom, a Manchester medical device firm, and a Norfolk fish and chip shop are among the businesses and charities participating.
Staff will be paid at 100% for the first 80% of their time, but they must produce 100% of their usual output.
However, some critics argue that the concept would be impossible to implement in customer-facing jobs or operations that run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, where overtime payments would be an additional cost to employers or taxpayers.
In a trial of the four-day working week in France, workers put in the same amount of hours despite working one day less, and employers had to compensate them for their extra time.
Some economists have argued that working fewer hours would lower one’s standard of living, and the president of one of Spain’s most powerful business associations has previously described it as “madness.”
It comes as airlines struggle to fill positions in time for spring travel demand and the upcoming summer holiday season.
The transportation industry has been dealing with a lorry driver shortage that has impacted the supply chain since last year.
Due to a shortage of seasonal crop pickers, industry experts have warned that shoppers may have difficulty getting their hands on their favorite fruits and vegetables this summer.
The situation was getting ‘quite desperate,’ according to Julian Marks, MD of food and agricultural company Barfoots, who told industry journal The Grocer that the situation was getting ‘very desperate.’
‘Ultimately, if it can’t be harvested there will be gaps on shelves,’ he warned.
Some parts of the UK are currently missing up to 75% of their seasonal workforce, raising concerns that produce will go to waste.
Because a large number of seasonal crop pickers traditionally come from the EU, the issue has been blamed on Brexit, as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and delays in issuing temporary visas.
According to a report released earlier this year by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, the sector had ‘potentially in excess of 500,000 job vacancies’ as of August last year.
Staff shortages ranged from 30% in Worcestershire to 50% in the East of England to 75% in other areas, according to industry experts.
Following issues last year, the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said it had already relaxed visa entry requirements for seasonal workers and was working to attract UK workers to the sector.
Brits are facing a summer of chaos in airports due to chronic staffing shortages and IT problems.
Holidaymakers have been stuck in long lines across the country in recent weeks, with some being forced to sleep on the floor of airports due to long delays.
Industry leaders have pointed the finger at mass layoffs that occurred during the pandemic as a result of a drop in demand for travel during the various lockdowns.
Airlines are now having difficulty rehiring workers who were previously laid off, resulting in a shortage of security personnel, ground handlers, and check-in personnel.
According to industry sources, staffing levels at larger airports are around 80 to 90 percent of what they need to be for the peak summer season, while smaller airports are around 70 percent.
According to reports, some workers have decided to leave the industry and will not return after the pandemic.
Another concern has been the verification of new employees, which can take many weeks.
According to unions and aviation officials, the backlog of security check applications could reach 20,000.
Covid travel limitations, according to Paul Charles of travel consultancy The PC Agency, resulted in the ‘destruction of talent through job losses.’
‘In my opinion, it could take up to 12 months before we see personnel at airports return to pre-pandemic levels,’ said Kully Sandhu, managing director of Aviation Recruitment Network.
‘Recruitment for people at airports takes longer than roles elsewhere because of necessary, additional security and background checks.
‘Routine recruitment campaigns ground to halt during the pandemic and have been slow to start again as international travel has had a number of restrictions on it until recently.
‘That means the recruitment pipeline was cut off and needs to be re-established.’
In the meantime, the United Kingdom is experiencing a labor shortage, with more job openings than workers available to fill them. As a result, some have speculated that potential airport staff recruits are unwilling to accept lower pay and more demanding jobs.
Employers in a variety of industries are struggling to attract and retain employees, with employees seeking non-monetary benefits such as working from home, flexible hours, or a four-day workweek.
After the government launched a push to get employees back into the offices as regularly as possible, the work from home debate has largely focused on civil servants.
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has stated that reducing remote working would increase productivity and revitalize the country’s town and city centers.
Unions, on the other hand, say they will “resist indiscriminate demands from the Government for civil servants to return to office-based working,” arguing that employees can work effectively from home and that “work is no longer a place, but what is done.”
According to data released last month, the United Kingdom has risen to the top of the list of countries where workers would rather quit or find a new job than return to work five days a week.
The SNP has backed the four-day week, hoping to investigate the ‘non-pay’ benefits of a shorter workweek.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has endorsed the plan, which was announced at the Labour Party conference in September 2019 by then-shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
The new pilot’s research team will examine each company and evaluate the impact on employees, including stress and burnout, job and life satisfaction, health, sleep, energy use, and travel.
They’ll also look at gender equality, as the four-day week is thought to benefit women, who make up a higher percentage of part-time and flexible-hours employees.
Kirsty Wainwright, 34, the general manager at Norfolk fish and chip shop Platten’s said that long hours in the hospitality industry push up staff shortages.
The mother-of-two already works a four-day week and is confident the roll-out to all staff will be a success.
‘The hospitality industry has really unsociable working hours and it needs to change,’ she said.
‘It’s not surprising the industry has been struggling with recruitment given the excessively long working hours.
‘On a five day week I didn’t get to see my kids enough. Spending more time with my kids is the best thing about a four-day week. It’s amazing.
‘Having that extra rest and not feeling exhausted means I can be more productive at work too.’
Wyatt Watts, 25, team leader at Platten’s, said that working in the hospitality industry can be ‘very strenuous.’
‘When I first heard we were going to be working less hours with the same pay I thought to myself what’s the catch, it sounds too good to be true,’ he said.
‘Morale has improved and we’re hoping that our productivity at work is going to be higher, meaning that stuff can get done quicker.
‘Having a four-day week has left me feeling a lot more positive about staying and working in the industry.’
Luke Platten, the company’s director, said that the decision aligns with company values to provide a ‘win-win’ for everyone.
Some experts have warned a productivity rise may not happen, with some critics saying that it will lead to more stress as employees attempt to squeeze more work into fewer hours, and leave firms with higher costs.
Tony Wilson, director for the Institute for Employment Studies said in an earlier interview that firms ‘will have to do a whole lot of other things to get productivity improvements’.
The pandemic has seen more employees working from home and adopting more flexible hours instead of the usual nine-to-five, five-day working week.
Joe O’Connor, the chief executive of 4 Day Week Global, said the country is at the crest of a wave of global momentum behind the four-day week.
‘As we emerge from the pandemic, more and more companies are recognising that the new frontier for competition is quality of life, and that reduced-hour, output-focused working is the vehicle to give them a competitive edge.
‘The impact of the “great resignation” is now proving that workers from a diverse range of industries can produce better outcomes while working shorter and smarter.’
Major companies that have tried out a four-day week but are not part of the trial include Unilever, Panasonic and Atom Bank —which was the biggest employer to make the change in November last year.
Mark Downs, CEO of the Royal Society of Biology, said he decided to take part in the trial to see if the change could help attract staff in an ‘incredibly competitive’ labour market.
His organisation will remain open five days a week, with staff either having the Monday or the Friday off.
Ed Siegel, CEO of Charity Bank, who are participating in the pilot, said that moving to a four-day week seems like a ‘natural step’.
‘We have long been a champion of flexible working, but the pandemic really moved the goalposts in this regard,’ he said.
‘The 20th-century concept of a five-day working week is no longer the best fit for 21st-century business.
‘We firmly believe that a four-day week with no change to salary or benefits will create a happier workforce and will have an equally positive impact on business productivity, customer experience and our social mission.’
Mr Siegel said that is is ‘proud’ that his firm is ‘one of the first banks in the UK to embrace the four-day week’ and hopes it will put the company ‘on the right side of history’.
Similar experiments are due to be held in the USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, while Government-backed trials are starting in Spain and Scotland this week.
Yarno, an Australian online learning company, tried out the four-day week as a start-up, but it failed after two years.
In a blog post, managing director Lachy Gray said it didn’t go as planned, with some employees being allowed to take Fridays off after finishing their work and others having to schedule meetings and communicate with clients.
While the firm’s four-day week has come to an end, he said he would like to explore the notion in the future.
Several ‘influencer’ agencies, notably Engage Hub, currently operate on a four-day work week, with staff having either a Wednesday or a Friday off every eight weeks.
Workers in marketing, where pay are frequently greater, face severe workloads and competition, with many working up to 60 hours each week.
‘Those working in marketing can have the stress of rivals and keeping up with the digital world, which has not been simple during the epidemic,’ said Sam O’Brien, Chief Marketing Officer of performance marketing platform Affise.
‘The impacts of the past two years have resulted in many more hours spent alone, at home, staring at computer displays while sitting in uncomfortable chairs—extremely terrible for mental health, vision, and posture.’
According to Affise, it was anticipated that implementing a four-day work week would boost high street sales by £58 billion during the epidemic.
This is because three-day weekends would give shoppers 20% more time to purchase, with a predicted increase in spending on hobbies, gardening, and DIY projects.
‘Starting a business takes a lot of time, energy, money, and imagination,’ Mr O’Brien continued, ‘and going for a four-day week is one way many entrepreneurs choose to cut costs.’
Microsoft Japan switched to a four-day week in August 2019, giving their 2,300 employees five Fridays off in a row.
Productivity increased by 40%, meetings were more efficient, and workers – who were also happier – took fewer vacation days, according to the company.
Nine out of ten employees said they preferred the shorter work week and other benefits, which included a 23% reduction in weekly electricity use and a 59% reduction in the number of pages printed by employees, both of which were welcomed by employers.
Mr O’Connor said: ‘More and more businesses are moving to productivity focused strategies to enable them to reduce worker hours without reducing pay.
‘We are excited by the growing momentum and interest in our pilot program and in the four-day week more broadly.
‘The four-day week challenges the current model of work and helps companies move away from simply measuring how long people are ‘at work’, to a sharper focus on the output being produced. 2022 will be the year that heralds this bold new future of work.’
Researchers in Iceland conducted a four-day working week trial from 2015 and 2019 and declared it a “overwhelming success.”
‘It shows that the public sector is ripe for being a pioneer of shorter working weeks – and lessons can be learned for other governments.’
Workplaces that took part, including the Reykjavik City Council, which ran the study, reduced their workweeks from 40 to 36 or 35 hours, with some claiming an increase in staff productivity.
More than 2,500 workers were involved in the trial, or 1% of Iceland’s workforce.
Preschools, offices, hospitals, and social service organizations were among the employers.
‘This analysis reveals that the world’s largest ever trial of a reduced
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