BUFFALO, N.Y. — A four-day workweek trial done in the United Kingdom with 61 companies and about 29 hundred workers found 90% of those employees definitely want to continue the four-day workweek.
2 On Your Side went to a Buffalo staffing agency Wednesday afternoon to see whether the four-day workweek is picking up steam here.
"I think it's here and there we're hearing people talk about it. It really depends on the type of business and the industries that they are in, and if it's feasible for their industries," says Lauren Lewis, partner at StaffBuffalo.
Lewis is a partner at the staffing agency StaffBuffalo. She says law firms, healthcare practices, accounting firms, and financial institutions might be some of the best fits for a four-day workweek.
The study was done in the UK by 4 Day Week Global, a not-for-profit, and found that 71% of the employees in the trial had reduced levels of burnout by the end of it, and 43% felt an improvement in mental health.
It went so well, that 91% of the companies plan to stick with the four-day workweek, and they reported an increase in hiring, fewer resignations, and sick days.
"A lot of the companies that did it are going to stick with it," said 2 On Your Side's Kelly Dudzik.
"Yeah," said Lewis.
"What are you hearing from employers here in Western New York about the potential of a four-day workweek?" asked Dudzik.
"It's interesting because even back in the fall, maybe it was summer, late summer, early fall, I was talking with one of our clients we work with and they were already talking about potentially switching to a four-day workweek. I think they see it as an opportunity to give their employees an extra benefit, increase employee morale that way, you know, provide a great culture for their employees, and employees are excited about it because, you know, it can, it helps lend to more of a work-life balance as well," said Lewis.
Lewis says job seekers she is dealing with are looking for the kind of flexibility a four-day workweek offers.
"Companies saw more productivity, employees felt more productive getting their job done within those four days and having more flexibility in their jobs, fewer commute times, more work-life balance, and just more camaraderie and morale amongst their employees, which is a great thing and I think that's why you're seeing less resignations of the companies that are offering that four-day workweek," said Lewis.
James Lemoine is an associate professor of organization and human resources at the University at Buffalo. He told us on Wednesday that he would caution people about reading too much into the study because it was done by an advocacy group formed for the explicit purpose of convincing the world that the four-day workweek is a good idea for both employers and employees. He says it is not surprising they found exactly what they hoped to find.
Lemoine says he saw no evidence of it being peer-reviewed, so that's an issue for him. And he says the key to making the four-day workweek a reality would be to provide strong evidence places can do this without suffering financially or operationally. He says he hopes they're right, but he would want to see more independent evidence to confirm their claims.