Four-day week 'good for workers and employers'

A trial has found mental health improved and work stress dropped when employees spent less time at work

A trial of a four-day working week in the public sector has found an increase in productivity and improvements in staff well-being.

The pilot saw workers at Accountant in Bankruptcy and South of Scotland Enterprise switch to a 32-hour week with no loss of pay or benefits.

The Autonomy Institute, which was commissioned by Scottish government to coordinate the pilot, found that 98% of staff judged morale and motivation to have improved.

Will Stronge, chief executive of the Autonomy Institute, said: "The results of the Scottish government pilot have been overwhelmingly positive, demonstrating that both the workers and employers involved are thriving."

The year-long pilot found sick days for psychological reasons dropped by 25.7%.

Employees' days off were staggered to make sure services were provided for the full working week.

Accountant in Bankruptcy found mental health improved by 18.4% and work stress dropped by the same amount.

At South of Scotland Enterprise, the percentage of staff feeling "very satisfied" with their work-life balance rose very sharply, from 4% pre-pilot to 84%, nine months in.

Staff with caring responsibilities were particularly supportive of the pilot, with some describing it as "life changing".

Both organisations opted to extend the pilot beyond the research period.

Success elsewhere

Mr Stronge added that previous research had mostly focused on the private sector, adding that the pilot showed there were similar benefits for private sector workers.

"These groundbreaking results show that the public sector can reap similar benefits, including improved productivity, employee well-being, and work-life balance.

"As the introduction of AI accelerates across industries, it's crucial that workers in both the public and private sectors experience the benefits of these advancements and one of the easiest ways of achieving this is by shortening the working week."

In July, the Liberal Democrat-run South Cambridgeshire District Council became the first local authority in the UK to permanently adopt the four-day working pattern after running a similar trial.

The authority said an independent report, from the universities of Salford, Bradford and Cambridge, highlighted how 21 out of 24 services at the council had improved or stayed the same since the four-day week began in 2023.

The authority said the report also showed the number of job applicants had risen by more than 120% and there were ongoing yearly savings of £399,263, due to reduced agency staff costs.