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Analysis of Four-Day Working Week Trial by a New Zealand Financial Services Company Finds Staff Were Happier and 20% More Productive (theguardian.com)
AmiMoJo shares a report: The founder of one of the first big companies to switch to a four-day working week has called on others to follow, claiming it has resulted in a 20% increase in productivity, appeared to have helped increase profits and boosted staff wellbeing. Analysis of one of the biggest trials yet of the four-day working week has revealed no fall in output, reduced stress and increased staff engagement, fuelling hopes that a better work-life-balance for millions could be in sight. Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand financial services company, switched its 240 staff from a five-day to a four-day week last November and maintained their pay. Productivity increased in the four days they worked so there was no drop in the total amount of work done, a study of the trial released on Tuesday has revealed.
The trial was monitored by academics at the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology. Among the Perpetual Guardian staff they found scores given by workers about leadership, stimulation, empowerment and commitment all increased compared with a 2017 survey. Details of an earlier trial showed the biggest increases were in commitment and empowerment. Staff stress levels were down from 45% to 38%. Work-life balance scores increased from 54% to 78%. "This is an idea whose time has come," said Andrew Barnes, Perpetual Guardian's founder and chief executive. "We need to get more companies to give it a go. They will be surprised at the improvement in their company, their staff and in their wider community."
The trial was monitored by academics at the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology. Among the Perpetual Guardian staff they found scores given by workers about leadership, stimulation, empowerment and commitment all increased compared with a 2017 survey. Details of an earlier trial showed the biggest increases were in commitment and empowerment. Staff stress levels were down from 45% to 38%. Work-life balance scores increased from 54% to 78%. "This is an idea whose time has come," said Andrew Barnes, Perpetual Guardian's founder and chief executive. "We need to get more companies to give it a go. They will be surprised at the improvement in their company, their staff and in their wider community."
Well, it might be all & well for the staff at that company to be happier, less stressed, healthier, & more productive but what about their souls? If those workers are denied the opportunity & support they need in order to toil relentlessly & arduously so that they can be better people, aren't they being condemned to an afterlife of eternal damnation? God will surely smite this evil company!
P.S. I'm reliably informed (Poe's Law) that humour must be accompanied by a smiley face in case someone thinks I'm an extremist nut-job :)
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
I think the summary writer meant something along the lines of "even though you'd expect cutting work time by 25% would result in a reduction in productivity, it did not."
The article states that productivity went up 20% and profits also increased.
This isn't really surprising. Lots of research shows that 40 hours a week is maximum sustainable effort, when you're building bombs as fast as you can to avoid being invaded by Nazis (seriously). Intellectual work seems to be less than that.
It's also not surprising that companies aren't "all over this." Management is a highly conservative discipline and people have really weird ideas about work. Yours is currently one of the first listed comments on this story, but I'm sure scrolling down will reveal a lot of people who simply refuse to believe this.
The eight-week experiment...
Smaller companies experimenting with the four-day week have found performance has been better in the first few weeks as excitement about the project took hold, before falling slightly.
A 240 person staff is pretty small, and eight weeks (over Christmas no less) isn't enough time to draw any conclusions.
The productivity increase isn't any surprise though. The employees are offered the day off *if* they could get the same amount of work done in a shorter time. Of course people will respond to a reward like that...for a while. Makes you wonder what would happen if people were offered a 20% pay increase for working five days per week but getting 20% more work done.