Workers at 70 companies are taking an extra day off each week, on full pay, as part of a UK-wide trial. We asked four of them how they found the first month
Not every four-day-week pilot has resulted in lasting success, though. In 2019, the Wellcome Trustfor its 800 head office staff to work one fewer day a week after a three-month study, owing to “operational complexity”. The business organisation the CBI has also expressed opposition to the four-day week, stating that “rigid approaches feel like a step in the wrong direction” at a time when a choice of flexible working is seen as increasingly essential.
Over in Salford, 49-year-old Digger Mosey is finding the change a welcome respite. “I’ve been at Helping Hands, where we assist elderly people, since April. Before that, I was at an NHS mental health support unit where I would work nights,” he says. “Having a normal working day and an extra day off on Friday is a dream come true.”
Opting for a Wednesday off, rather than the typical Friday, creative copywriter Emma Colton, 28, who lives in Northampton, has productive plans for her first month of four-day weeks. “I wanted to be switched on for my day off, to fill it with personal projects,” she says. “I’m in the process of selling my flat and starting to write a novel, so I have quite a bit on.”
Two weeks into the pilot, Colton is still balancing her expectations with the realities afforded by her free time. With plans to crack on with her novel, she ended up spending her Wednesday tidying her flat for viewings that were ultimately cancelled. “That was disappointing,” she says. “But it was useful to realise that my free time might not always go to plan.”
Mosey, for his part, is becoming increasingly productive. “I used to do homeless outreach volunteering on a Saturday, but now I have Fridays off, I’ve moved it to Thursday night,” he says. “It is much better and it means I can switch off properly for the weekend.” He spent Saturday going out to a local bar with friends and planning a trip the next weekend to a music festival.
He feels a permanent move to four-day weeks wouldn’t be too far a stretch. “We all want it to carry on after the pilot – my family included – and it will be great having the extra time in the autumn when the kids are back at school. There won’t be any excuse to not be prepared for Christmas this year!”
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‘I had a very welcome lie-in on Friday’: the joys and challenges of switching to a four-day weekWorkers at 70 companies are taking an extra day off each week, on full pay, as part of a UK-wide trial. We asked four of them how they found the first month
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