Does the four-day week fulfil its intentions for employee wellbeing?

By Gill Tanner, Senior Behavioural Scientist atCoachHub

The four-day week has recently become a reality for some employees in the UK, with thirty businesses teaming up on a trial basis alongside the organisation 4 Day Week Global, leading think tank Autonomy, and researchers from Cambridge University, Oxford University, and Boston College. The four-day week sits alongside hybrid working and digitisation in a huge shift in how we collectively understand the workplace and our relationship to it.

The implications of carrying out business operations within the time restraints of a four-day week inevitably differ from sector to sector. Finance, due to its regulation and often its reliance upon the London Stock Exchange’s trading hours, faces unique challenges as an industry to attempt a four-day week. Nevertheless, there are fintech startups and some banks who have made the leap successfully, which begs the question – is the four-day week a sensible move for this highly regulated sector?

Combatting burnout by boosting employee wellbeing

In the last 18 months, 70% of learning and development leaders have seen increased reporting of either issues with burnout or wellbeing among their employees. This signifies that employees could be suffering from a lack of work/life balance, as well as experiencing stress in their day- to- day activities at work. Burnout is a long standing issue for the finance sector in particular, which has often been criticised for its high workload and aggressive company culture in the past. Some employees posit that this has worsened over the course of the pandemic, driven by a rise in remote working making working longer hours more prevalent than ever.

In 2019/20 stress was one of the leading causes of absence due to work-related ill health, highlighting an urgent need for businesses to better support their staff with their wellbeing. There is no doubt that the four-day week is one solution among many to this critical employee burnout crisis. When employees have more time outside of the workplace to focus on their personal life and non-career driven ambitions, they are likely to experience improved mental health as they have the time to truly switch off from workplace stress. There are also potential physical benefits to be derived from an extra day away from the office, such as a reduction of the risk of illnesses related to screen work such as eyesight deterioration, repetitive strain injury, and back problems.

Implementing the four-day week: smooth sailing or a challenging road?

However, following the four-day week is not an absolute solution to employee burnout. The fact that employees are required to maintain the same level of productivity in four days may be stressful for some. They will need to be focused and there is likely to be much less time for some of the lower priority activities.

Making a shift as drastic as cutting your employees’ working hours by 20% is therefore not a decision which should be taken lightly. Businesses that are interested in taking the leap should carefully consider their reasons for implementing a four-day week and consult with employees and other stakeholders before even attempting a trial. For example, if your employees feel that a four-day week would hinder their productivity and cause increased stress, this might not be the right option for your business. Once the human element has been meticulously examined, only then can leaders move on to the practical considerations of the change.

Potential barriers for the finance sector

The potential knock-on effect for the customer is something which should be taken into account in every sector, but this is perhaps especially notable in the world of finance, which moves incredibly quickly and with very high stakes. It goes without saying that financial organisations which rely upon the timing of the various global stock exchanges would likely experience huge losses if they chose to close their doors on a certain day of the week. Such businesses could consider looking into alternative methods to the four-day week, or perhaps implementing a staggered four-day week, whereby different teams or team members take different days as their additional day off.

Taking into account the bigger picture of both your business and the industry in which you operate is essential before making a switch as significant as moving away from the five-day week that has been the norm for many years. Leaders must remember that they know their businesses inside out, and resist jumping on the latest fad without carrying out proper research and taking into account the opinions of all affected stakeholders.