Owners and managers of firms told FTAdviser they did not think a four-day week would work in the advice profession but some said they would “like to be proven wrong”.
Yesterday (February 22), the findings from the world’s largest trial of a four-day work week showed that the vast majority of companies taking part in the trial have chosen to maintain the new working schedule.
Of the 61 companies that took part in the six-month UK-based trial, 56 have extended the four-day week and 18 have made it permanent.
Organised by campaign group 4 Day Week Global, think-tank Autonomy and researchers at Boston College and the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, the trial took place over a period of six months.
It involved almost 3,000 workers, with workplaces ranging from education and consultancy businesses, to banking, IT, retail and recruitment groups.
Workplaces that took part in the trial all adopted a model of 100 per cent of the pay for 80 per cent of the work.
Some chose to do this by offering one day a week off, while others let staff work 80 per cent of their previous hours on a flexible basis.
Benefits of the trial were most significant for employees who reported significantly lower levels of burnout and improved work-life balance and employees’ physical and mental health.
Likewise firms benefited from the trial, with revenues rising on average more than a third during the trial compared to the same period in 2021.
Staff turnover levels were also reduced, with 57 per cent fewer staff leaving the firms taking part compared to a year earlier, while the number of sick days taken during the trial also fell by about two-thirds.
Despite this success, appetite for a wider roll-out remains limited in the advice and mortgage space.
Director of R3 Mortgages, Riz Malik said the sample size of the trial suggests the results should be “taken with a pinch of salt”.
“I don't believe the current economic climate in the UK allows for the luxury of a four-day week,” he added.
“We are still feeling the effects of Brexit, and none of the economic data I have seen suggests that we can afford to take our foot off the gas.”
Many firms liked the sound of a four-day week in principle, but said making it work in practice seemed like an impossibility.
A spokesperson for AJ Bell told FTAdviser that it has no plans for a four-day week.
