{"id":332,"date":"2020-11-10T10:00:26","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T10:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sage-people-scraping.local\/?p=332"},"modified":"2026-01-07T13:59:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T13:59:03","slug":"four-day-working-week-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/four-day-working-week-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"The four-day working week: What HR and People leaders need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPeople & Leadership<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe four-day working week: What HR and People leaders need to know\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\tJessica Leyshon<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re all obsessed with telling people how busy we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We love to wax lyrical about how there are never enough hours in the day for everything we need to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this can heavily impact on many employees\u2019 holy grail: work-life balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, longer hours don\u2019t necessarily mean greater productivity. In fact, our research revealed that one in three full-time employees admit to being productive for less than 30 hours a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a whole day lost to lack of productivity per working week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, despite working the longest hours in Europe, Britain is among the least productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US sits at number eight on the productivity ranking by hours worked<\/a> \u2013 much higher than the UK, but still has some way to knocking Luxembourg off the top spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, are we better losing that fifth day at work all together?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A four-day working week not only makes workers happier, but more productive too according to recent studies. And vitally, 51% of employees<\/a> say they\u2019d welcome a four-day working week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s everything HR and People leaders need to know about a four-day working week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does a four-day working week mean?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It means exactly what it says on the tin. Instead of the traditional five-day working week, employees would work four days instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the UK there\u2019s a four-day working week campaign<\/a> that believes \u201ca four-day week will benefit our society, our economy, our environment and our democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has the backing of many organisations and unions, including the UK\u2019s Trade Union Council (TUC<\/a>), which says reducing working time for workers, employers and the country as a whole has the potential to bring about huge benefits that ultimately bolster the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it\u2019s not just the UK pushing the four-day week agenda. A growing number of countries are facing calls that the four-day week is the answer to increased productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could a four-day week help the economy?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Institute for Labor Economics says working longer invokes the law of diminishing returns, with productivity dropping after the 35th hour of weekly work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aidan Harper<\/a>, a researcher at the New Economics Foundation, says there\u2019s a clear relationship between overwork, poor wellbeing, mental illness and poor productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of these things are very, very closely linked, and overwork is pretty awful for you in terms of mental health and your ability to a) work quickly and b) produce a high quality of work,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What examples are there of the four-day week working successfully?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the US, a technology start-up called Wildbit, founded by former Google employees, switched to a four-day week after its CEO, Natalie Nagele<\/a>, learnt that most people can only really do around four hours of meaningful, cognitively focused work in a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI looked at that and said, okay, as a team, where can we cut back,\u201d she explains. \u201cIf we can do the same work in 32 hours and get an extra day off, that would be beneficial to our personal lives and our ability to recharge, so let\u2019s just test it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scottish firm Pursuit Marketing also implemented a four-day working week and said the switch to four days led to a staggering 30% increase in productivity<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Possibly one of the most surprising examples of the four-day week is for Japanese car company, Toyota. Its Swedish car factory saw increased customer satisfaction alongside higher productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The factory cut its staff\u2019s weekly hours from 40 to 30 hours and saw an uplift of 114% of what they used to produce, which increased profits by 25%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The managing director of the factory, Martin Banck, said there\u2019s been significant positive change<\/a> as a result of the shift to shorter hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cStaff feel better, there is lower turnover and it is easier to recruit new people. They have a shorter travel time to work, there is more efficient use of the machines and lower capital costs\u2014everyone is happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do HR and People teams need to know to implement a four-day working week?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For companies considering the swap to a four-day working week, the advice is to implement a trial before pushing out company wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perpetual Guardian<\/a> said it would be switching to a four-day week following a successful eight-week trial, finding that it increased productivity by 20%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether a four-day working week is right for your company depends on many factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n