The Four-day Work Week

If Liz Truss can reduce a whole premiership to seven weeks, why can’t a standard working week be squashed into something shorter? A six-month pilot (试点) scheme, in which around 3,300 workers from 70 companies are testing out a four-day workweek, is due to conclude this month. 【小题1】 Like previous such experiments, it is likely to be praised as a success. A mid-point survey by the trial’s organisers — researchers at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and Boston College — found that the transition had worked well for 88% of surveyed companies.

【小题2】 In particular a four-day week forces firms to think harder about time management. Most businesses in the trial have encouraged employees to leave meetings when they are not contributing, and to be more selective about accepting invitations. Daryl Hine of Stellar, an asset-management company in London, calls this a “diary detox”. This also extends to reducing commutes.

Of the participating organisations, 46% reported maintaining overall output at the same level, and 49% said it had improved. 【小题3】 Its HR department has goals for response time to emails; its staff are given so-called net promoter scores, which track how colleagues rate their services. On both counts, they have made “rare” leaps, says Sharon Platts, the company’s chief people officer. Participants say that their employees feel more motivated.

Becoming a four-day operation can be hard in a five-day world, however. Bookishly, an online shop, chose Wednesdays off to avoid having three days in a row when packages are not mailed out; people are warned about the new schedule before they order. 【小题4】

More tests are on the horizon. In January South Cambridge shire District Council will become the first British local authority to try out a four-day week. The lessons learned are likely to be valuable even if the idea does not spread.