The short work week plan is being tested in the UK

• Supporters of the organization say the staff will be happier and more productive.

• “Switching to four days a week is good for companies”

• Idea is gaining popularity in the United States

The four-day work week is tested in the UK. Dozens of UK companies have volunteered to participate in a pilot program that offers employees shorter working weeks.. The six-month trial will include 30 companies that will allow employees to work 32 hours a week without reducing pay or benefits.

According to Bloomberg, some of the pilot participants may ask workers to extend that 32 hours to five days. “Switching to a four-day week will benefit companies,” said Joe Riley, director of the UK four-day weekly campaign.

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Best of all, the study says

“Studies show that productivity improves with gains related to worker well-being,” he told Bloomberg. Similar trials have taken place in other countries, including Spain, New Zealand and Iceland. – New ones planned to run in Canada and Australia. A four-year experiment conducted by the Icelandic government and the city of Reykjavிக்k found that four days of work would lead to maintaining or increasing productivity.

Last summer, the Icelandic government said the vast majority of the country’s workforce – 86% – “now have the right to work fewer hours or reduce their working hours.” […] Worker well-being has increased dramatically in the range of indicators, From perceived stress and fatigue to health and work-life balance, the contraction continued, and the recipe was “neutral” during the test.

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Idea is gaining popularity in the United States

Similar results in its own tests led the Spanish government to provide subsidies to encourage companies to reduce working hours without reducing wages. The idea of ​​a four-day work week is gaining popularity in the United States.. Last month, a group of Democrat lawmakers in Congress introduced a bill that would reduce working hours from 40 hours a week to 32 hours. If the bill becomes law, employers will have to pay overtime pay to workers who work more than 32 hours a week.

More companies can adopt the model

Bolt, a San Francisco-based e-commerce company, established a permanent four-day work week for employees last fall. Ryan Preslow, the company’s CEO, told CNBC earlier this month that employees are happier, more efficient, and more productive. “I could not imagine running a company the other way,” he added.. The four-day work week hopes lawyers will adopt this model as a way to retain talent – especially as millions of Americans quit their jobs because of the “Great Life”.

The project does not please everyone

However, employers and economists are not interested in this Four day work week idea, it will only benefit white collar workers. Dan Hammermesh, a professor of economics at the University of Texas at Austin, said wage workers are choosing to work longer hours to survive as wages fall. “It’s very easy for those sitting in their chairs to say, ‘Yes, you have to be on a part-time or four-day, 32-hour schedule.’ Said. “This is what bothers me the most in this discussion, frankly. It’s a bunch of rich people telling others how hard they have to work.