In February 2023 the results of the UK’s 2022 four-day week pilot were published, and for the first time organisations considering a shorter week had a large, coordinated dataset to point to rather than a handful of company stories. The trial ran from June to December 2022. It is worth reading carefully — neither inflated nor dismissed.
What was tested
The UK pilot was coordinated by Autonomy, researchers at the University of Cambridge and Boston College, and 4 Day Week Global. It involved 61 organisations and about 2,900 staff. Participating employers offered a meaningful reduction in working time — broadly a 20% cut toward a four-day pattern — with no reduction in pay, in return for a commitment to maintain output.
That design matters. This was not a compressed week of four ten-hour days. It was the 100-80-100 model: 100% pay, 80% time, 100% output commitment. It was also voluntary. Firms chose to take part, prepared in advance, and knew they were being studied.
The headline people results
The staff results were consistently positive. Burnout fell for 71% of employees over the trial. 39% said they were less stressed than at the start. Staff also reported improvements in sleep, work-life balance and their ability to combine work with caring responsibilities — 60% found it easier to combine work with care.
These are survey results, not clinical measurements, and they come from workplaces that wanted this to work. They still matter because the direction was the same across very different organisations, and because managers were reporting business results at the same time rather than staff simply reporting a pleasant few months.
Sick days and leaving
Two operational figures drew most attention. Sick and personal days fell by 65% during the trial compared with a comparison period. The number of staff leaving fell by 57%.
Both figures need the caveat the researchers themselves attach. They are large percentage moves on relatively small bases. A fall from roughly two sick or personal days per employee-month to well under one produces a dramatic percentage without meaning every firm saw the same absolute change. Treat them as a strong signal that absence and quitting moved in the right direction, not as a promise that your organisation will cut either by two-thirds.
Revenue and continuing
Revenue rose by 1.4% during the trial window across firms that reported it. That is not a productivity miracle. It is something more useful for a cautious board: revenue did not fall off a cliff when hours were cut and work was redesigned.
At the point results were published, 92% of participating organisations said they would continue with a shorter week, and 18 had already made it permanent. Continuation is not proof on its own — firms that had struggled were less likely to stay in the spotlight — but it does show the model survived contact with real diaries, customers and payrolls for six months.
What the trial does not prove
The UK trial does not prove that any firm can delete a day and keep output. Participating firms were self-selecting, disproportionately smaller and knowledge-based, and they prepared. Actual hours fell on average from about 38 to 34 a week — a real cut, but not always a clean 32. The trial also used before-and-after comparisons rather than random assignment, so market conditions and enthusiasm are part of the picture.
The honest summary is this: in firms that redesigned work, wellbeing improved, absence and leaving fell, and revenue held. That is a serious basis for a pilot of your own, with your own baselines — not a guarantee.
If you are reading this in February 2023
Start with measurement, not announcement. Baseline absence, leaving, output, quality and customer response for at least four to eight weeks. Name what work will stop. Agree in advance what result would make you continue, extend or stop. The UK firms that did well did not find spare time in the calendar; they made it by removing low-value work.
Sources
- Autonomy, University of Cambridge, Boston College and 4 Day Week Global, UK four-day week pilot results, February 2023 — reported via ScienceDaily, 21 February 2023: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/02/230221113132.htm
Day5Group is a consultancy that assists in the transition to a 4 day work week. More about Day5Group · All blog articles