A Scots business which adopted a four-day working week has found it easier to recruit staff since the switch. Kirsten Dean, head of finance at housing association Melville, told with the PA news agency employees were initially in “disbelief” when the company piloted the policy in 2023.
“They thought it was too good to be true that it had no strings attached,” she recalled, but after over a year of implementing the new working pattern admitted: “I don’t ever see us going back”. On Monday, the 4 Day Week Foundation announced more than 200 UK companies have permanently switched to a shorter working week with no reduction in pay.
Companies include marketing agencies, IT firms, consultancies, and charities; and collectively employ more than 5,000 people. The Foundation argues a shorter working week boosts motivation and provides employees with “the freedom to live happier, more fulfilling lives”.
Melville, which manages over 2,000 rental homes across central Scotland, closely monitored tenant satisfaction and property letting times to ensure staff were still performing their jobs effectively after the switch. While Ms Dean acknowledged it wasn’t “not all plain sailing” and some tenants initially expressed concerns, customer satisfaction surveys have shown no negative impact.
She revealed the policy also streamlined the process of recruiting top-tier staff, with an officer from another association recently agreeing to a pay cut to join Melville. The four-day week is “definitely a draw” for applicants, she noted.
Having an extra day off each week means “a day where I don’t have to put my son into nursery – I get to spend a full day with him,” Ms Dean shared. “From a mental health point of view, it certainly has been a benefit to myself and the staff.”
The rising trend of the shorter work week comes as some major corporations are retracting their pandemic-era flexible working policies, with tech behemoth Amazon recently insisting on daily office attendance from staff.
However, critics of the four-day week labelled it as lazy, and lobbying group the TaxPayers’ Alliance initiated a campaign dubbed “Stop the clock off” to resist public sector workers adopting the scheme.
Another organisation offering a four-day working pattern to its staff is Brook, a charity operating sexual health clinics across England on behalf of local authorities. Sam Hepworth, the charity’s head of communications, stated: “I wouldn’t describe anyone here as being lazy.”
Many of the charity’s clinical staff undertake “very challenging work” with patients battling difficult conditions, he explained. “That can take its toll, both emotionally and physically, for staff. In order for them to be able to maintain that level of commitment, they need that bit of extra time to prevent them burning out.”
However, he conceded to maintain the usual opening days, shift patterns had to be adjusted, while office staff have been pushed to become “smarter with our time” in order to complete tasks within a reduced number of working hours. “We’ve cut down on the number of meetings that we have, and made them shorter,” he revealed.
Mr Hepworth highlighted 86% of individuals involved in an initial pilot of the scheme in 2023 reported a “very positive” experience and 87% felt it either sustained or boosted their motivation. Furthermore, an overwhelming majority of nine in 10 participants endorsed the continuation of the scheme, he said.
Since the policy’s inception, Brook has received a deluge of inquiries from like-minded organisations curious about its efficacy. Following the promising trial in 2023, the charity’s management decided to adopt the shortened hours permanently, shared Mr Hepworth.
“We decided it was a no-brainer to carry on,” he declared.
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