Greg Guilford
A Kettering-based HR consultancy has outlined the benefits of the world’s largest trial of a four-day working week.
More than 70 organisations worldwide signed up to the six-month pilot scheme in June, which involves more than 3,000 UK employees.
Although HR Solutions are not taking part in the trial themselves, CEO Greg Guilford is aware of the potential benefits from the experiment.
He said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has already changed many aspects of our working lives, with many people switching to working from home or hybrid working. It is a logical time to test out different working practices and see how a new approach could help with employee wellbeing and productivity.”
Employees participating in the trial receive their full salary but only work 80% of their standard hours. In exchange, workers must commit to maintaining 100% productivity.
Firms taking part include office-based software developers, housing, food and beverages, workplace consultancy, skincare, housing, and recruitment firms.
Greg added: “Workers must use their time more wisely, concentrating on being as effective as possible in a smaller time frame to achieve the same level of performance. The additional rest day is anticipated to improve staff wellbeing, create a greater sense of achievement in completing work more efficiently and make workers feel motivated to work harder.
“I believe that happy and motivated people are a core part of a successful business. And while there is great potential in this kind of scheme, a contented workforce may also be achieved through good internal communication, relevant staff reward schemes, job flexibility, equality and fair opportunity.”
For more information on The 4 Day Week Global Campaign, which is coordinated by researchers from Oxford and Cambridge universities, experts from Boston College and the Autonomy think tank, or you would like to enquire about how HR Solutions can help your business, visit: https://www.hrsolutions-uk.com/4-day-working-week-trial-launched/.
