Before the pandemic, working remotely or hybridly was unthinkable for many companies and workers. Currently it is a common practice that adds to several attempts to find the right balance between personal and work life. Among them, the proposal to reduce the working week to four days to take care of mental health and avoid burnout (burnt from work).
At the beginning of June, more than 3,300 employees from 73 companies in Great Britain started a six-month trial aimed at testing the efficiency and productivity of implementing a work week of just four days. With this goal in mind, Employees get one paid day off per week for the duration of the studyled by the organization 4 Days Week Global, researchers from the University of Cambridge, Oxford and Boston College and the Autonomy institution.
According to the preliminary results of the investigation, published last wednesdayA four-day work week would not generate lost productivity: according to 46% of the leaders of the 41 companies consultedthe level of productivity remained stable, and 34% indicated that it “increased slightly”.
A very high percentage of respondents consider it likely or extremely likely to maintain the four days a week policy after the trial period.
Similar experiments are being carried out in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and Ireland, and there are already proposals to replicate the study in Spain in 2023.
