Levels of burnout and stress reduced among staff involved in a four-day week trial involving thousands of employees across a raft of organisations including charities, a study has found.

Evaluation of a four-day week pilot that took place last year found that more than seven in ten (71%) employees saw their levels of burnout reduce and 39% felt less stressed.

Levels of anxiety, fatigue and sleep issues also dropped and staff members’ mental and physical health improved.

The chance to work four days instead of five has shown success in improving employee wellbeing due to work life balance improvements and ensured they had more time for family and social commitments, the study suggests.

More than half (54%) of those involved found it easier to balance work with household chores. Staff were also more satisfied in their relationships, with their household finances and management of time.

Six in ten staff involved in a four day week arrangement were more easily able to combine work with care responsibilities.

The evaluation has been carried out by academics at the universities of Cambridge, Salford as well as University College, Dublin, and Boston College among others.

The trial was run by organisations around the world including the UK’s 4-Day Week Campaign and involved 2,900 staff across 61 organisations, including charities and other sectors covering marketing, advertising, education, healthcare, arts, housing and engineering.

Four-day week arrangements also helped staff retention. The number of employees leaving organisations taking part fell by 57% during the trial, which took place from June to December 2022 and was the largest trial of its kind in the world into the arrangements.

Staff are also willing to work a four-day week for less money, found the trial.

Among staff taking part 15% said that “no amount of money would induce them to accept a five-day schedule over the four-day week to which they were now accustomed”.

Those taking part resisted a “one size fits all” approach to four day weeks, the evaluation into the trial explains. Organisations designed their own schemes that included “classic Friday off models” to more staggered and annualised structures.

Another benefit was an increase in revenue among organisations taking part, up 35% on average when compared to the same period over previous years “ which indicates healthy growth during this period of working time reduction”, the evaluation found.

“Before the trial, many questioned whether we would see an increase in productivity to offset the reduction in working time – but this is exactly what we found,” said sociologist Prof Brendan Burchell, who led the University of Cambridge research team.

"Many employees were very keen to find efficiency gains themselves," he added.



Charitable organisations involved in the four-day week pilot included Charity Bank.

Its chief executive Ed Siegel said at the time of the trial: “With a meaningful redesign of the way we work, we expect to improve efficiency without affecting productivity whilst enhancing the physical and mental health of our colleagues. In essence, a happier and healthier workforce is more productive and delivers superior customer service.”

Burnout Fears

The NCVO has urged charities to adopt flexible working arrangement to avert burnout among staff and improve their recruitment and retention. It’s Road Ahead report said many charity staff feel emotionally shattered by the Covid crisis and now the cost of living crisis.

Several studies over the last year have highlighted fears of burnout among charity staff and the importance of employees taking ownership over their working arrangements, rather than having them dictated to them.

In December last year a survey of charity leaders found that many staff in the sector are “running on empty for too long” as “they move from one crisis to the next”.

“This sense of exhaustion means that many dedicated people are considering their futures,” the research by IVAR warned.

Research published by the charity People’s Health Trust in June last year found that more than four fifths of voluntary and community sector leaders are concerned their staff will burnout within months.

“I watched two volunteers die from heart attacks because they worked so hard during the pandemic,” said one respondent to the Trust’s survey.

Meanwhile, a survey by nfpResearch, also released last year, highlighted the importance of staff being involved in decisions around flexible working arrangement, such as four-day weeks.

This found that three quarters of workers with freedom to chose their own arrangements were very satisfied at work, compared to only 29% among those whose office days were dictated to them.

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