The World’s Biggest Four-Day Work Week Pilot Begins

卢子叶

Thousands of UK workers are starting a four- day work week with no cut to their pay in the largest trial of its kind.

The pilot，which will last for six months，involves 3，300 workers spanning 70 companies，ranging from providers of financial services to a fish-and-chip restaurant.

During the program，workers receive 100% of their pay for working only 80% of their usual week，in exchange for promising to maintain 100% of their productivity.

The program is being run by not-for-profit 4 Day Week Global，Autonomy，a think tank，and the 4 Day Week UK Campaign in partnership with researchers from Cambridge University，Oxford University and Boston College.

数千名英国员工将在不减薪的条件下开始试行一周工作四天，这是史上最大规模的同类试点。

这次试点将持续6个月，涵盖从金融服务提供商到炸鱼薯条餐厅等70家公司的3300名员工。

在这一项目中，员工每周的工作时间只有往常的80%，但是收入还是和原来一样，条件是承诺保持劳动效率不变。

该项目是由非盈利机构“全球四天工作制”、智囊团Autonomy、英国四天工作制运动团与剑桥大学、牛津大学和波士顿学院的研究人员合作运营的。

Sienna ORourke，brand manager at Pressure Drop Brewing，an independent brewery in London，told CNN Business that the company's biggest goal was to improve the mental health and well-being of its employees.

“The pandemic [has] made us think a great deal about work and how people organize their lives，”she said. “We're doing this to improve the lives of our staff and be part of a progressive change in the world.”

Given the company manufactures and ships products，workers have less flexibility about when and where they work，O'Rourke said. But any difficulties in navigating holiday and sick leave would be tackled as a team.

Until now，Iceland had conducted the biggest pilot of a shorter working week between 2015 and 2019，with 2，500 public sector workers involved in two large trials. Those trials found no corresponding drop in productivity among participants，and a dramatic increase in employee well-being.

Calls to shorten the working week have gathered steam in recent years in several countries. As millions of employees switched to remote work during the pandemic——cutting onerous commuting time and costs——calls for greater flexibility have only grown louder.

Government- backed trials are set to take place in Spain and Scotland later this year，the 4 Day Week Campaign said in a press release.

Joe O'Connor，CEO of 4 Day Week Global，said that the workers have shown they can work “shorter and smarter”.

“As we emerge from the pandemic，more and more companies are recognizing that the new frontier for competition is quality of life，and that reduced- hour，output-focused working is the vehicle to give them a competitive edge，”he said in the statement.

Researchers will measure the impact the new working pattern will have on productivity levels，gender equality，the environment as well as worker well-being.

倫敦独立酿酒企业Pressure Drop Brewing的品牌经理西恩娜·奥罗克告诉CNN商业频道称，该公司的最大目标是改善员工的心理健康，提升幸福感。

她说“疫情促使我们去思考工作以及人们组织生活的方式。我们这么做是为了改善员工的生活，为世界进步贡献一份力量。”

奥罗克说，因为本公司负责产品的制造和运送，所以员工在工作时间和地点方面灵活性较低。员工休假或生病时引发的人员调配问题会通过团队来解决。

冰岛在2015年至2019年间开展的短工作周试点活动是迄今为止规模最大的，共有2500名公共部门员工参与了两次大型试点活动。试点发现，参与者的劳动效率没有因为工作时间缩短而降低，而员工的幸福感却有显著提升。

近年来在一些国家，呼吁缩短每周工作时长的声音越来越大。疫情期间数百万员工切换为远程工作模式，节省了海量的通勤时间和成本，这使得增加工作时间灵活性的呼吁声变得更大。

英国四天工作制运动团在新闻稿中称，今年晚些时候，西班牙和苏格兰将在政府支持下试行短工作周。

全球四天工作制机构的首席执行官乔·奥康纳表示，员工已经展示出他们可以“用更短的工作时间干得更好”。

奥康纳在一份声明中称：“经过这次疫情，越来越多的公司意识到，竞争的新前沿领域是生活质量，降低工作时长、专注于产出是公司获得竞争优势的渠道。”

研究人员将会对新工作模式对生产效率、性别平等、环境以及员工幸福感产生的影响进行测评。