"Fewer waste collectors quit in Britain's biggest public sector trial of four-day working week", the Guardian reports, "and there were faster planning decisions, faster benefits processing and faster call response, according to independent research."
South Cambridgeshire District Council's controversial shorter working week experiment has shown performance improvements in 11 of 24 areas, little or no change in 11 areas and performance deterioration in two areas, according to an analysis of productivity before and during the 15-month trial by academics at the universities of Cambridge and Salford…
The multi-year study of tests involving around 450 office workers as well as waste collection workers found:
- Staff turnover fell by 39%, helping to save £371.500 in one year, mainly on the company's staffing costs
- Regular domestic planning applications are decided about a week and a half in advance.
- Around 15% more decisions on major planning applications were completed on time than before.
- The time taken to process changes to housing benefit and council tax benefit claims has been reduced….
Under the South Cambridgeshire trial, which started in January 2023 and ran until April 2024, staff were expected to do 100% of their work 80% of the time for 100% of pay.
The trial showed staff turnover was reduced by 39% and scores for physical and mental health, motivation and employee engagement improved, according to the study.
"Combined with the hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money we have saved, the improvement in recruitment and retention (of staff) along with the health and wellbeing positives, this brave and pioneering trial has clearly been a success." said John Williams, the council's chief resource officer. …
Many private companies have already adopted this approach, with many finding it helps retain staff. Ryle said the South Cambridgeshire results "prove once and for all that a four-day working week without loss of pay can succeed in a local government environment".
