Four-day workweek hailed ‘overwhelming success’ set to stand trial in UK after biggest trial ever in Iceland

A FOUR-day workweek is set to be tried in the UK after Iceland’s biggest trial ever was called a “crushing success”.

Workers were found to be less stressed and had a better work-life balance, while employers saw no drastic declines in productivity or service delivery, according to an analysis.

Pilot program in Iceland found workers to be less stressed and anxious (file photo)[/caption]

Reduced working hours gave people more time to pursue other interests[/caption]

The trial, which ran from 2015 to 2019, enabled around 86 percent of Icelandic workers to negotiate contracts with permanently reduced hours.

UK think tank Autonomy research director Will Stronge said: “This study shows that the world’s largest ever trial of a shorter workweek in the public sector was in all respects a resounding success.

“This shows that the public sector is ripe to pioneer shorter workweeks – and lessons can be learned for other governments.

“Iceland has taken a big step towards the four-day work week, providing a great concrete example for local councils and those in the UK public sector considering implementing it here in the UK. “

The Icelandic experience initially involved only a few dozen public sector workers who were members of trade unions.

Pilot program found workers did not have a dramatic drop in productivity (file photo)[/caption]

But it expanded to include 2,500 public and private sector workers – representing one percent of the country’s workforce – as the lawsuit progressed.

Police officers, healthcare workers, teachers, vendors and city workers were among the participants in the trials, according to a report released by Autonomy and the Icelandic Association for Sustainable Democracy.

Although the experiment was referred to as a “four-day week,” in reality most workers did not take a full day off but aimed to reduce their hours from 40 to 35 or 36 per week.

Time saved at work has been largely obtained by cutting unnecessary meetings, taking shorter breaks and moving services online to allow offices to close earlier.

The workers said that because of the time saved, they were able to organize their private lives better, such as running errands in the afternoon or doing more household chores.

They also said they have more time to see family and friends, and have more time to relax or indulge in hobbies.

Workers said they felt less stressed and anxious, both at home and at work.

Bosses said that because they had to think carefully about how office hours were managed, it meant there was no significant drop in productivity compared to the ability to deliver services.

While workers worked fewer hours in some cases, productivity actually improved (file photo)[/caption]

In fact, in a number of cases, productivity has actually improved.

The number of overtime hours also remained stable, indicating that workers had not just shifted office tasks to their free time.

Costs for bosses have not increased either, except in the health sector, where it was necessary to employ more staff to cover working hours.

Gudmundur D Haraldsson, researcher at the Association for Sustainability and Democracy (Alda), said: “The shorter workweek commute in Iceland tells us that not only is it possible to work less in modern times, but that gradual change is also possible.

“Our roadmap for a shorter workweek in the public sector should be of interest to anyone who wants to see working hours reduced. “

A poll published in July last year by Survation found that 63 percent of the British public supported the idea of ​​a four-day week without loss of pay, while only 12 percent opposed it.

Spain launched a pilot program in March that aimed to reduce the workweek to 32 hours, to see if it was possible to stimulate the country’s economy by lifting restrictions on coronaviruses and aiming to boost the employment.

Employees of companies participating in the scheme would try to reduce their hours while maintaining the same level of remuneration.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has expressed support for a four-day work week and the Scottish and Welsh governments have also set up commissions to explore the idea.

Some economists, however, remain skeptical about the introduction of a four-day work week, arguing that the standard of living would be reduced.

Ricardo Mur of CEOE, one of Spain’s leading business associations, said at a forum in December: “Getting out of this crisis requires more work, not less.