Is a four-day work week the future?

In Bristol and across the country, a four-day working week is gaining momentum. Bristol24/7 spoke to local businesses who have introduced the scheme – some permanently and others as a trial – to see whether it’s something the whole city should be adopting.

Tyler Grange is one of 61 companies across the UK that took part in a six-month, four-day week pilot which began last June. For the environmental consultancy on Victoria Street, the pilot proved to be such a success that they adopted it permanently in December, when the trial came to an end.

“Like many people in our industry, including our competitors and clients, we were pretty tired,” said Simon Ursell, managing director of Tyler Grange, explaining why the firm took up a four-day week. “Our conversations were often framed around how busy we were, how much we needed to do, and our lack of time for actually living.

“We’ve long known that mental health issues are rife in consultancy. It’s an industry which has too often been plagued by growing demands, diminishing timescales and increasing complexity – leading to a few members of our team parting ways with us over our 12-year existence.

“We recognised that being constantly ‘on’ wasn’t sustainable and isn’t what we wanted for our business and that mental and physical burnout is a real problem. It cannot – and must not – be glossed over anymore.”

Now that they don’t work Friday, and with no loss of income, Tyler Grange reports that its 15-strong team in Bristol are enjoying many commercial and personal benefits.

Crucially, the firm says its productivity has increased, with staff being found to be 22 per cent more productive now that they work 32 hours rather than 40. Data collected by the company also shows that they are 14 per cent happier and 28 per cent less tired, with sickness absence down by 66 per cent. There has also been an 88 per cent rise in CVs received.

Ursell added: “In the early stages of the pilot, a few colleagues were openly very anxious about the change. Some of our most high performing Tribe members couldn’t understand how it would be possible to complete five days’ work in four when they were already working as hard as they could, but they soon embraced it. And there were a couple of our Tribe who didn’t take to our new ways of working at all, and weren’t keen to adapt their ways of working, so we supported them to find roles elsewhere.

“But the majority of us quickly got used to our new systems, processes and way of working, which did away with lots of lengthy admin and unnecessary meetings and reporting, which has made us much more efficient and focussed and collectively happier as a result.“

Tyler Grange’s managing director Simon Ursell said his team are “much more efficient, focussed and collectively happier” as a result of a four-day working week – photo: Tyler Grange

Tyler Grange has been approached by a number of businesses in Bristol and across the UK to share their advice and learnings, to help others determine how they can also make the switch to a three-day weekend .

“We’re able to demonstrate, first-hand, how challenges of the four-day working week can be overcome and the many holistic benefits that can be enjoyed as a result,” Ursell added. “Employers really shouldn’t be afraid of it – they should embrace it.

“Change is uncomfortable and transitioning to a four-day week has provoked negative responses among some. I suppose that’s the nature of it; that it’s necessary to make people feel uncomfortable in order to change. We’re here to do what’s right for our people, planet, and our clients. We believe that making the four-day week permanent is the right thing to do, even if it’s seen as disruptive.”

‘The four-day week is not a silver bullet’ 

Fellow environmental organisation City to Sea adopted a permanent four-day work week in May 2022, after trialling it for eight months. Exploring the viability of a four-day week in 2021, they surveyed the team during the trial, with 100 per cent buy-in from staff.

“Now viewed as experts in this exciting movement, the four-day week aligns to and encapsulates our core values of being earthkind, positive, brave, balanced and creative,” said City to Sea’s people lead, Hetti Dysch.

“We have chosen to prioritise a better work-life balance, standing against the blaze and burn culture that drives stress, anxiety and burn out as a result of unacceptably long working hours that drive a consumerist culture that never rests.”

City to Sea, who are based at Redbrick House in St Paul’s, were keen that a four-day week would not compromise their core mission to reduce single-use plastic. But they say their reporting from 2022 evidences that even though they have reduced work across the organisation by 20 per cent, impact and reach of their campaigns continue to grow.

Environmental organisation City to Sea admitted the transition to a four-day week “hasn’t been without its difficulties” – photo Jon Craig

Dysch added: “Although the transition to the four-day week hasn’t been without its difficulties – logistics and need for workstream re-evaluation – we’re excited that our head of development is writing her sustainable business MSc research project about the four-day week, and our recently appointed CEO stated in her interview that apart from our mission, the four-day week was one of the major attractions to the company, helping to build the case that this initiative drives talent and improves retention rates.

“The four-day week is not a silver bullet in and of itself.  It needs to be part of a larger wellbeing strategy designed to improve the employee experience. This goes beyond attractive policies for time off and includes ensuring a fair, transparent and inclusive progression policy, having committed senior leadership teams who will listen to, and act on regular employee feedback, learning and training opportunities and an up-to-date progressive handbook underpinned by parity and compliance.”

‘It makes sense to everyone that we do this’  

One of the first businesses to introduce a four-day week in Bristol was Barefoot Architects, who are based at Paintworks. They introduced the option of a four-day week in January 2019 on a permanent basis for any member of the team that wanted to do so.

Founding director, Sam Goss, says implementing a four-day working week has encouraged “a greater sense of focus in office hours”.  He said: “We have to be organised and disciplined to make it work, but the benefits felt by everyone have made it worthwhile. The team have all found it has given them the space and time to pursue other interests, manage their life admin, have flexibility, and feel more energised at work generally.”

Barefoot Architects specialise in homes, housing and community projects, and Goss says his clients are “barely aware that we work a four-day week”.

Barefoot Architects say they have to be organised and disciplined to make a four-day week work – photo: Barefoot Architects

“People generally all take Friday off, and this tends to be a quieter day in offices anyway. We typically receive fewer calls, emails and requests for meetings on this day, since most other industries are also wrapping up and winding down for the weekend!

“Not a single client, or contractor has ever had a concern over it, and in fact they have all invariably seen it as a great thing. We are a values-led practice, and so I think it makes sense to everyone that we do this.”

‘We want our team to have the time for their creative pursuits’

As well as organisations making a four-day working week permanent , some are trialling the scheme. Trigger, for example, introduced a four-day week to coincide with the new financial year at the start of April. There will be a six-month trial period to see how well it works for them as an organisation.

The producing organisation, who are also based at Paintworks, deliver events such as PoliNations – a project reflecting on the UK’s complex histories surrounding migration and diversity – in Birmingham’s city centre.

Angie Bual, Trigger’s creative director, said: “During live event periods such as this we ensure people are getting proper rest days, but high intensity working can be tiring – especially when people are away from home for extended periods.

“After PoliNations we sought feedback from our team, and this trial is partly a response to what we heard through that process. Our hope is that implementing a four-day week will support staff wellbeing throughout the year, and particularly when we get into the busy periods.”

Bual says that Trigger’s  team has responded well to a four-day week so far and seem to have an increased awareness of how they use their working hours. “Changing the culture of a business takes time; this new set-up creates awareness of how to prioritise the time we have at our desks, and we hope to see this turn into changes in working behaviours across the trial period.”

Everyone at Trigger was consulted individually before implementing the trial, to get an idea of how a four-day week might impact  the team both professionally and personally.

Bual added: “We are a creative company, and many staff members were excited to be given more time to explore personal creative pursuits outside of work. We hope this will feed into our overall business model moving forward. We want our team to have the time for their creative pursuits so they feel better, can work better, and can use that creativity to further fuel our business.”

Main photo: Trigger 

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