On World Mental Health Day (10 October), many employers are considering the work-life benefits of a four-day week. Noura Dadzie looks at the results of a new survey suggesting a shorter work week could improve wellbeing and productivity.
More than two years after the global workforce was rocked by an unexpected pandemic, another new operational adjustment for businesses may be following in the footsteps of remote and hybrid work arrangements: the four-day work week.
While certainly not a new concept, the four-day work week has been quietly gaining some serious momentum in the past year, as hundreds of businesses around the world participate in preliminary trials.
Most notably, a six-month pilot launched in the UK earlier this year has been generating a significant amount of buzz due to the surprisingly promising results of an early survey.
After reaching the halfway point of the programme, in which employees were given one paid day off between Monday and Friday each week, a majority of the participating businesses that responded to the survey claimed they were likely to keep the four-day work week in place after the pilot has concluded.
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Perhaps even more encouraging, the respondents have so far not experienced any loss of productivity, and many have even reported an uptick in productivity during the initial stages of the trial.
Promising signs
While the early results represent the experiences of only slightly over half of the participants – 41 of the programme’s 73 companies responded to the survey – the uniformity of the responses is nevertheless significant, and seems to indicate a growing enthusiasm and support among business leaders regarding the prospect of a reduced work week.
Moreover, in Talent.com’s own survey of 1,300 employees in the UK, we found even more evidence of the four-day model’s potential to benefit workers, particularly as it relates to addressing the ongoing mental health crisis and increasing emphasis on achieving an optimal work-life balance. Here’s a brief overview of what we learned:
Trying to find a balance
To say the past couple of years have been stressful would be a monumental understatement.
Between the hardship, uncertainty, and stagnation brought about in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, rising inflation and economic instability, and an ongoing and increasingly devastating war in Ukraine, there are plenty of reasons that employees around the world may not be feeling their best.
Needless to say, businesses should be looking to improve the mental health and wellbeing of employees now more than ever, and by any means necessary that doesn’t risk compromising operations.
After all, we have already seen the consequences of letting these issues go unaddressed – soaring numbers of people leaving their jobs in 2021 and this year was described as the great resignation, while more recently workers have been making viral videos about so-called ‘quiet quitting’.
It should come as no surprise then that the majority of employees we surveyed were seeking to feel less overwhelmed in one way or another.
More specifically, when asked what the prospect of a four-day work week represented for them, the top three answers were “better work-life balance” (82%), “improved wellbeing” (55%), and “reduced stress” (48%).
While longer-term data is certainly needed to determine the positive impacts of a four-day workweek on the mental health of employees, these results suggest at the very least a strong correlation in the minds of workers between additional leisure time and their overall wellbeing, and one that employers would be unwise to ignore.
Flexibility works both ways
When it comes to what employees want more broadly from a post-pandemic work environment, there’s no question that “flexibility” has become a top priority.
This is once again an issue we have seen take centre stage as it relates to widespread hiring challenges and employee churn across industries.
At least on the surface, it appears that the scales of power have tipped in favour of employees, many of whom have become far less likely to take a job from an employer who doesn’t meet their unique requirements or share their personal values.
However, while the overall mindset of the modern workforce has undeniably shifted, our survey revealed that when it comes to flexibility in the form of a four-day work week, employees are more than prepared to return the favour.
While employees may be ready to bargain for a four-day work week with their daily hours, they are not yet ready to do so with their salaries
When asked if they would be willing to work longer hours each day in the context of a reduced work week, more than half (56%) responded positively, including many who stated working 10 hours per day would be a fair exchange for additional leisure time and the opportunity to improve their mental health and wellbeing.
What about pay?
But we also need to point out that while employees may be ready to bargain for a four-day work week with their daily hours, they are not yet ready to do so with their salaries.
When asked if they would be willing to take a pay cut for an extra day off, well over half of employees (64%) responded negatively. Moreover, 76% of respondents listed an annual salary increase as the most important benefit of their jobs.
Although businesses and employees will need to find an initial healthy middle ground on the issue of pay, particularly as both continue to weather the impacts of rising inflation and economic uncertainty, successful implementation of the four-day workweek may also have the potential to solve this problem on its own.
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Put simply, if improvements to productivity continue to be observed as a result of early trials, with employees feeling a much-needed sense of relief and personal freedom, there’s reason to believe the four-day work week can be beneficial not only for the wellbeing of employees, but for the overall performance of businesses in an increasingly competitive and uncertain economic landscape.
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