The push for a four-day work week in the U.K. has been a mixed bag of results, with many companies opting to keep the condensed work schedule while a few others look at reverting to the 40-week standard, according to data published in BBC News Monday.
Independent research organization Autonomy employed several university researchers to conduct the smaller workweek trial on over 60 U.K. companies involving nearly 3,000 employees for the latter half of 2022.
According to an executive summary of the trial, the companies were given no standard policy for implementing the practice so long as they each maintained their full workforce and abided by the time reduction.
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Data showed 92% of companies that participated in the trial intend to continue with shortened work weeks after employees reported improved "well-being."
"‘Before and after’ data shows that 39% of employees were less stressed, and 71% had reduced levels of burnout at the end of the trial. Likewise, levels of anxiety, fatigue and sleep issues decreased, while mental and physical health both improved," the summary read.
"Measures of work-life balance also improved across the trial period. Employees also found it easier to balance their work with both family and social commitments – for 54%, it was easier to balance work with household jobs – and employees were also more satisfied with their household finances, relationships and how their time was being managed," according to the report.
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Companies' revenues rose an average of 1.4% during the trial period and the organizations themselves also saw dramatic dropoffs in the number of people exiting for other jobs.
Despite the seemingly positive outcome, some companies opted to revert to the 40-hour standard, including one engineering an industrial supplies company named Allcap that, according to BBC, struggled to keep pace with the trial's demands.
"We rushed it through the business," Allcap owner Mark Roderick said. "We joined the program late, and knew it would be a challenge implementing it across five sites. But we wanted to be able to give our staff time off during the summer."
Instead of implementing the popular practice of giving one day off, the company instead opted to give its workers "one workday off every fortnight."
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"We’re a trading business – customers call up all the time for manufacturing and construction components," Roderick explained to BBC. "We were already on a slightly reduced headcount, so we couldn’t afford to give staff one day off every week."
Ironically, the organization ran into another problem – increased burnout.
Employees were cramming in their required work in less time and, instead of having ten normal workdays, they had what Roderick described as "nine extreme ones."
The other problems? Finding people to cover shifts on employees' days off and passing the metaphorical baton to someone else to handle a heaping amount of work once employees are off the clock.
The idea had already emerged in some parts of the U.S., namely in states like California and Maryland, where the state legislature recently introduced a bill to incentivize companies with a tax credit to turn to 32-hour work weeks in place of the 40-hour standard without loss of pay or benefits.
Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) introduced a similar bill in his own state, but the plan never moved forward.
Fox News' Aaron Kliegman contributed to this report.
