Brits experience shorter working hours for the same pay

How does it affect well-being if employees only work four days instead of five? What about their productivity? This is exactly what UK companies are trying to find out now.

John Maynard Keynes was sure that in 2030 people will work only 15 hours a week. Three hours a day would be enough, as the British economist of the century demonstrated in 1930, after all, machines could do the work for us by then without losing prosperity.

It’s hard to imagine that the business world will change in this way over the next eight years, but it could still take a small step before then. Because one concept is currently gaining popularity: the four-day week.

Therefore, in Great Britain, the effects that could occur if people had to work a day less at full pay are now being tested. More than 3,300 workers from 70 British companies are taking part in the pilot from June to December 2022, from small chip stores to large financial service providers – no trial per week for four days has been greater.

“We will analyze how workers respond to an extra day off in terms of stress, burnout, work, life satisfaction, health, sleep, energy expenditure, travel and many other aspects of life,” said Juliet Shore, a professor of sociology in Boston. Faculty and Principal Investigator in the British Guardian project.