Dozens of British companies are trialling a four-day working week
A business has permanently introduced a four-day working week for its staff, promising that it will not see a drop in pay for its employees.
Family-run business Chilwell Products makes parts for scaffolds and its workers will now have five fewer hours a week written into their contracts, allowing them to take Fridays off every week and enjoy a beautiful three-day weekend.
After a £100,000 investment in new technology and upgrading its power presses, the company felt it was able to introduce a shorter working week for its staff thanks to the savings made.
The company’s managing director, Laura Clarke, said that the traditional five-day week is a “thing of the past.”
She said: “Working 39 hours per week and overtime during multiple points throughout the year is now a thing of the past.”
Clarke said that after changing her employees’ contracts and ensuring that staff would never have to work Fridays or weekends, the company had actually seen an increase in turnover.
“We’ve made the changes and have still achieved a 45 per cent increase in capacity, helping us increase turnover and giving us the chance to go after new opportunities,” she said, via Business Live.
Clarke is the granddaughter of company founder Derrick Telford and became the third generation of her family to take charge of Chilwell Products when she took over from her mother, Lorraine, in 2019.
Earlier this year, some 30 companies in Britain signed up for a trial of a four-day working week.
The six-month pilot programme was performed by 4 Day Week Global along with thinktank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week UK campaign and researchers from Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College.
As part of the trial, companies will take part in the 100:80:100 model, which gets its name for the fact that employees will get 100 per cent of their pay for 80 per cent of their normal week but must agree to work at 100 per cent productivity.
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