Is a four-day working week inevitable? Latest UK pilot sees 100% success rate

Counting down to the weekend already? Show your boss this article.

The latest UK pilot of the four-day working week has wrapped – and every single one of the participating companies is sticking with it.

Seventeen organisations, spanning industries from housing to marketing, took part in the six-month trial, coordinated by the 4 Day Week Foundation.

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At the trial’s conclusion, all 17 – boasting more than 1,000 workers between them – decided to keep their staff on reduced hours. Twelve have moved to a full four-day working week. The remaining five are now operating a nine-day fortnight.

The results are clear, said Joe Ryle, campaign director of the 4 Day Week Foundation: a reduced work week benefit both employers and employees.

“People are happier, businesses are thriving, and there’s no turning back,” he said. “We’ve proved it again and again: a four-day week works and should now be implemented more widely across the economy.”

Some 62% of workers in the new trial registered a reduction in how often they experienced burnout, while 41% registered an improvement in their mental health. Nearly half (45%) of participants registered feeling more satisfied with life.

Bron Afon housing association in South Wales – a not-for-profit social enterprise with more than 500 employees – is one of the organisations embracing the shift. Staff were offered flexibility in how they arranged their time off. Some took a set day each week, others alternated, and some banked hours for longer breaks. The approach proved popular, said CEO Alan Brunt.

 “It has improved the lives of many of our colleagues,” Brunt said. “It has created capacity in their lives to spend more time with their children, look after their parents, and get involved in voluntary work.”

Some have even taken the opportunity to further their education – one member of staff has started studying towards a master’s degree, for example.

Brunt also credits the four-day week with boosting workplace energy, while sickness rates have dropped.

“We’ve seen increased motivation and focus from colleagues who work four days rather than five,” he added.

The 40-hour, five day working week may currently been the norm – but it’s highly historically specific. In 1870, industrial employees logged 60-90 hours a week, clocking in for up to 15 hours a day, six days a week.

Work patterns have changed before, four-day working week proponents argue – and they could change again.

“The working week hadn’t been reviewed in any serious way for a very long time,” said Brunt. “This is the biggest opportunity in a generation to look again at how we work, and it’s exciting to be part of it.”

It’s a timely push. British workers are some of the most burnt out in Europe. More than 90% of adults in the UK have experienced “high or extreme levels of pressure or stress at some point in the past year”, Mental Health UK reported in 2024.

As the momentum builds, the four-day week is moving steadily from the fringe to the mainstream ambition.

More than 200 companies across the UK have already adopted the model. Earlier this year, a national survey found that two-thirds of Brits believe the four-day working week will become standard practice within five years.

Brunt agrees: “I expect that most organisations will be doing this in the next 10 years or so,” he said.

Labour’s 2019 manifesto featured a promise to introduce a four-day working week – a commitment that was dropped from the party’s 2024 policy platform. However, the new government has pledged to “strengthen workers’ rights”, and several senior cabinet ministers have previously voiced support for the concept.

“If you can deliver within a four-day working week, then why not?” said now–deputy prime minister Angela Rayner at an event last year. “I think people will realise it’s a great idea if it suits their sector and boosts productivity.”

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