Picture used for illustrative purposes.

For years, many offices in countries have been following the six-day working week, with Sunday – or as is the case with this region, a Friday – being a holiday, Then came the five-day week, which was widely welcomed. Now, that seems to be outdated: a four-day week is gaining importance in many countries.

In a new development, 100 companies in the UK have switched to a four-day work week, with no loss of pay. Over 2,500 employees will benefit from the change in office functioning. Sharjah has also switched to a four-day work week. It is helping raise the bar on government performance and employee productivity. According to the findings of a study revealed by the Sharjah Executive Council, the shift to a shorter working week at the start of the year has helped improve customer and employee satisfaction levels as well.

It has also helped make the roads a lot safer: Sharjah had a 40 per cent drop in traffic accidents and fatalities compared to the same period last year. There was also a decline in toxic emissions: the number of gases such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air was much lower. Supporters of the four-day week say a five-day working week pattern is just a hangover from an old economic age that’s no longer necessary.

The two firms which have signed for the four-day week are Atom Bank and a marketing company called Awin, which currently has 450 members of staff in the UK, according to the Independent. They have been accredited by the 4-Day Week Campaign. However, this does not mean longer hours at the office daily to meet the timings target: instead, the working hours for staff have been shortened.

The shift to the four-day week has had several benefits: wellness and wellbeing have gone up by several notches, relations and retention also have benefited. The 4 Day Week Campaign is also running the world’s largest pilot project on this work system. This is being done for 70 firms with 3,300 workers. The trial is being held in collaboration with the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and the Boston College. Interestingly, 88 per cent of companies said the new way of working was going “well”.