U.K.-based coalition starts largest trial run ever for a four-day workweek

by Megan Richardson

According to Euronews.next, a trial run of a four-day workweek is going to start in June for about 3,000 employees in the U.K. It will be the largest ever such study. 

This trial run is organized by 4 Day Week Global, think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week Campaign, and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University, and Boston College. They hope to learn how the impact of reduced work hours has on employees’ well-being, productivity, burnout, and even the environment and gender equality.

A similar study was conducted in Reyjavik, Iceland in 2015-2016 and had overwhelmingly positive results, with no evidence showing that fewer hours lowered productivity. Since then, many people in Iceland have shifted towards this four-day week. Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are now starting up similar pilot tests.

With no known negative consequences and more countries taking the time to try this method, perhaps this reduction in work hours can spread across the globe and result in happier and healthier employees and more resilient organizations.