Slightly growing revenues and productivity and much happier employees (but also managers). These are the 3 data that could push the UK to adopt the 4 day work week on a large scale after the publication of the amazing results of the largest experiment on the "short week", published in Reports and Proceedings from the University of Cambridge which show encouraging results for the 61 companies and 2.900 workers who tested the new model from June to December 2022
4-day work week: the details of the experiment
The formula tested for six months by the 61 companies that have joined the initiative provides for the 100% pay 80% of the time – 32 hours instead of 40 – in exchange for the commitment to supply 100% of the production anyway.
The results? 90% of participating companies would rather not go back, and 18 out of 61 have officially confirmed the four out of seven working day model.
The reason? Although the hours worked have decreased, revenues went up by +1,4% – since it leaps to + 35 % compared to the same period of 2021 – ei workers seem to be happier: 15% of them would not go back to work 5 days out of 7 "for any amount of money", 39% say they are less stressed, 40% sleep better, 54% say it is easier to balance work and responsibilities housekeepers. During the 6-month trial, the number of sick days decreased by about two-thirds and 57% fewer employees left the companies compared to the same period in 2021. The organizers also asked workers to rate the own life before and after the experiment: the average score rose from 6,69 to 7,56, while that of the managers it even reached 8,3 on experience (from 7,5).
There are, however critical issues: the experiment, many observers underlined, was carried out in a period of low unemployment and a growing tendency of dissatisfied workers to quit with the well-known phenomenon of great designations. It should also be underlined that, if in some sectors the reduction in hours worked and the increased pace of work have been easily absorbed, in others they do not seem to be manageable.
4-day work week: the other experiments, there is also Intesa Sanpaolo
The first country to start with the 4-day working week wasIceland, which in 2015 introduced the "short week" in the public sector, bringing it over time to the private sector as well.
Recently, too Spain, Belgium, Australia and the United States are experimenting with the 32-hour work week.
In Italy, it was recently Intesa Sanpaolo to launch a new work organization model for group employees operating in Italy. Three of the company's proposals include the possibility of using the smart working up to 120 days a year, with a meal voucher of 3 euros per day, but also that of working 4 days a week increasing the daily hours to 9 on a voluntary basis, for equal pay, without the obligation of a fixed day.
Fim Cisl: "Let's do it in Italy too"
"We also experiment in Italy post UK work on 4 days. We open discussions with companies on how to make work productive, sustainable and free". he asks Robert Benaglia, general secretary of the metalworkers of the Fim Cisl, according to which “it is possible rethink schedules business and reduce them not against company competitiveness but by research new balances and better resultsthe. The Fim Cisl already last year in its congress in Turin focused on the definition of fair work proposed to negotiate, above all at company level, a form of work made up of 4 parts of full activity and 1/5 of reduced hours that can also be dedicated to training or care", explains the trade unionist, who highlights how this measure could make work "more sustainable and flexible towards people's needs", making "jobs more attractive" at the same time.
