The UK has just launched a trial which will allow employees to work just four days each week. The idea is that company employees will work for just 80% of their normal week at 100% of their pay to see what impact it has on productivity and employee welfare. 

Being called the 100: 80: 100 model, employees get the full pay for 80% of the work, but must agree to work at 100 percent productivity. The six-month pilot programme is being carried out by 4 Day Week Global alongside think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week UK campaign as well as researchers from Cambridge and Oxford Universities and Boston College. 

Businesses and companies participating will be receiving support from those organising it – including access to experts in the field, mentoring and research by top academics. The plan is to get 30 businesses on board, with the numbers crunched to see what effect the system had on productivity for the business, wellbeing of workers and impact on environment and gender equality. 

Taking a look at Malta, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana had ruled out the implementation of the 4 day work week when asked about it back in October of 2021. The Minister had stated that the government would be willing to discuss the prospect once worker productivity and skillsets improved. Malta is still not at that stage yet, the Minister had stated. He pointed to an improvement in the education system first before the work style could be introduced. 

#MaltaDaily