Another four-day workweek trial shows promising results

🏌️👀 Fourrrrrrrrrr: Results from the latest four-day workweek trial are coming in.

The experiment, published by Boston College and the 4 Day Week Foundation earlier this month, encompassed ~1,000 employees across 17 UK companies and other organizations. Each employee worked a shorter week while retaining the same pay and workload for a six month-period between last November and April.

And while workers reaped the benefits over this span, many companies did, too.

• BrandPipe, a software company based in London, reported fewer sick days, as well as a revenue jump of ~130%.
• Three other organizations shared revenue data as part of the trial; two saw their sales increase, while one that had a different comparison period saw a decrease.

All of the study’s participating companies continued with the four-day workweek after the trial, according to the authors.

If a lot of this sounds familiar…Separate four-day workweek experiments in the US and Germany have led to similar results—while the last major UK pilot in 2022 involved 61 companies and ~3,000 workers, with 92% of companies deciding to continue with the shorter week afterwards.

However: These studies aren’t without their critics, who point to limited data and a potential self-selection bias present in the companies who choose to participate.

Big picture: 38% of senior leaders are open to implementing a four-day workweek at their business, compared to just 23% last year, according to a recent Tech.co survey of employers.