World's largest four-day work week trial nears its midpoint, here's how it's going
As the world’s largest four-day work week experiment nears its halfway point, organizers behind it say there has been significant improvements to people’s wellbeing.
The trial, which is being conducted in the U.K. through partnerships between 4 Day Week Global and researchers at Cambridge, Boston College and Oxford University, includes approximately 3,300 workers across 70 different companies. Businesses who are participating, while only working 80 per cent of their usual hours, are seeing no changes in compensation or productivity.
The trial began in June and will continue until November.
“Anecdotally, companies are suggesting there’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience with revenue and productivity levels, [that have] either maintained or, in some cases, improved,” Charlotte Lockhart, the managing director and founder of 4 Day Week Global, a not-for-profit organization that has been working to support the adoption of a four-day work week since 2018, told BNN Bloomberg in a video interview on Aug. 8.
Well-being indicators, including stress, burnout, sleep quality, family and work-life balance and life satisfaction, all noticed improvements. Lockhart added that, anecdotally, less working hours does not appear to reduce productivity. In some instances, she said, productivity has advanced.
“Everything we're finding so far is backing up what we've always said which is interesting. But I think that the important thing with this research is that we will have empirical data that feeds into that,” Lockhart said.
WHAT THE TRIAL ENTAILS
Dr. Rupert Dunbar-Rees is the founder and chief executive officer of Outcomes Based Healthcare. In a video interview with BNN Bloomberg on Aug. 17, he said that the company was looking for ways to improve productivity before it joined the four-day work week trial.
“The four-day week is really a culmination of that exercise of trying to improve our productivity and really think deeply about what we're doing and how we're doing it,” Dunbar-Rees said.
The U.K.-based company has 11 full-time employees participating in the trial who are working in a hybrid setting. Although implementing the shortened week posed challenges, Dunbar-Rees maintained that the process has been “fairly smooth.”
Hurdles included navigating human resource policies and determining what to do with workers who were already working four-day weeks. Being agile, Dunbar-Rees said, was a top consideration.
“You always anticipate failure, but then you have to plan around the failure,” he said, comparing the adjustment to the company’s work of producing software for the National Health Service.
Despite challenges, Dunbar-Rees said that employees reaped the benefits of reduced working hours, feeling like the time off provided them with a “proper three-day reset.”
“In terms of the plus side, certainly everyone on the team…they've been managing to do lots of things that they just would never have done and come back much more refreshed on a Monday,” said Dunbar-Rees.
“So people are doing eye tests and going to the dentist and doing endless amounts of life admin that would otherwise not get done,” he said. “Half of the solution to a sustainable four-day week has been about looking for efficiencies and productivity improvements,” he said.
“I don’t want to prejudge the outcome of the pilot, but I'd be surprised if we got to the end of this and said, ‘right let's go back to our old way of working,’” he said.
YOUR FINANCES

A holiday meal in Canada will be an 'expensive proposition': food lab
Celebrating with your family this December could come with increased expenses as data shows many traditional holiday foods are going up in price.

Canadians increasingly turning to charities to meet essential needs, but cost of living also hitting donations
Every Giving Tuesday, many Canadians generously dig into their wallets to donate to charities, but as the cost of living climbs, research suggests many Canadians are also in need of help.

What is the grocery code of conduct, and will it help to lower the cost of food?
Canada's grocery code of conduct is in the final stages with advocates saying it would help lower food prices while big grocers say it won't.
Poor Inuit housing 'direct result of colonialism': federal housing advocate
A federal housing advocate is accusing every level of government in Canada of failing to uphold the Inuit's right to housing -- and therefore denying their human rights.
Having financial problems? Don't get caught in debt relief scams
With inflation, rising interest rates, and higher costs for gas, groceries and housing, many Canadians are feeling the financial pinch and now personal bankruptcies are on the rise.
Do you tip at a restaurant like Chipotle? Here’s what a survey found
But the majority of Americans say they tip 15 per cent or less for a typical meal at a sit-down restaurant, according to a wide-ranging new poll on tipping attitudes from Pew Research Center. The poll surveyed nearly 12,000 people.
Loblaw raises the affordability alarm as grocery code of conduct nears completion
As the grocery code of conduct nears completion, the Canadian industry's biggest player is raising concerns the guidelines could add fuel to the food inflation fire.
Here's how much it costs to raise children in Canada, according to new statistics
A new report from Statistics Canada estimates how much parents will spend on children over the course of their lifetime.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories

'The only choice': Defence Department going with Boeing to replace aging Aurora fleet
The federal government is buying at least 14 Boeing surveillance planes from the United States to replace the aging CP-140 Aurora fleet, cabinet ministers announced Thursday. The deal costs more than $10.3 billion in total, including US$5.9 billion for the jets themselves, and the planes are expected to be delivered in 2026 and 2027.
Blasted by Bloc, Conservative MP apologizes for asking minister to speak English
Conservative MP Rachael Thomas has apologized after drawing criticism from other members of Parliament for asking Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge to answer questions in English at a committee meeting.
Jaw-dropping video shows collapse at Coquitlam, B.C., construction site
Emergency work is underway after a collapse at a Coquitlam, B.C., construction site that was caught on camera this week.
NHL veteran Perry apologizes for 'inappropriate' behaviour, says he is seeking help
Corey Perry says he has started seeking help for his struggles with alcohol following his release from the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks.
Filmmakers in Bruce Peninsula 'accidentally' discover 128-year-old shipwreck
Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick were looking for invasive mussels when they found something no one has laid eyes on for 128 years.
Israeli military confirms release of 8 more Israeli hostages from captivity in Gaza Strip
Hamas freed eight Israeli hostages Thursday in exchange for Israel's release of more Palestinian prisoners under a last-minute deal to extend their ceasefire in Gaza by another day.
On 1st day, UN climate conference sets up fund for countries hit by disasters like flood and drought
Nearly all the world's nations on Thursday finalized the creation of a fund to help compensate countries struggling to cope with loss and damage caused by climate change, seen as a major first-day breakthrough at this year's UN climate conference
B.C. man tries to appeal driving ban by claiming his designated driver crashed his Mercedes, fled the scene
B.C.'s Supreme Court has upheld a 90-day driving ban for a man who refused to give a breath sample after crashing his Mercedes into a ditch – rejecting his claim that an "unnamed designated driver" was behind the wheel and fled the scene.
Suspect arrested in Morocco could be behind Ontario bomb threats, OPP says
Investigators have 'strong reason' to believe that a suspect taken into custody in Morocco could be behind numerous bomb threats across Ontario in early November, police say.