With no pay cut, 100 companies in UK switch to four-day workweek

 A total of 100 businesses have agreed to implement a permanent four-day workweek for all employees without reducing wages in the UK. The 100 enterprises collectively employ just 2,600 people, but the 4 Day Week Campaign hopes they will be able to bring about a significant change in the nation.

The five-day schedule, according to proponents of the four-day workweek, is a holdover from a previous economic era. According to The Guardian, they have suggested that a four-day workweek will encourage businesses to increase productivity and do the same amount of work in less time. Early users of this policy also found it to be a very effective method of luring and keeping personnel.

Out of the 100 companies, Atom Bank and international marketing company Awin, which both employ about 450 people in the UK, are the two largest corporations in the country and have committed to adopting the four-day workweek. According to reports, they have received accreditation from the 4 Day Week Campaign, demonstrating that they have actually cut staff members' working hours rather than just packing the same number of hours into fewer days.

The change to the new working pattern was "one of the most revolutionary initiatives we've seen in the history of the campaign," according to Awin's chief executive Adam Ross, who was speaking to The Guardian.

In the past 18 months, Mr. Ross continued, "We have not only witnessed a huge improvement in staff wellness and well-being but concurrently, our customer service and relations, as well as talent relations and retention, have also benefited."

According to the site, the 4 Day Week Campaign is also managing the largest working pattern pilot in the world, involving 70 enterprises and 3,300 employees. It is a trial including scientists from Boston University, the think tank Autonomy, the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, as well as other institutions.

Ninety-five percent of those businesses reported that productivity had either increased or kept the same since the four-day workweek was implemented when asked in September, midway through the trial, how it was going.