Four-day week ‘promotes productivity’

 A four-day working week would boost productivity, a study by Oxford University economists has found.

The gains from improved productivity could make up for the “lost” fifth day enjoying leisure time, they said, suggesting it is potentially the ultimate virtuous working circle to improve work-life balance.

For the past six months, a team led by Jan-emmanuel De Neve, of the university’s Saïd Business School, has been tracking the happiness and productivity of 5,000 BT call centre workers across more than 20 centres. The findings, he said, have been “really striking.” By cross-referencing performance data with a weekly check on each of the 5,000 workers’ wellbeing, scored from one to five, the results appear to prove the thesis.

“We are seeing changes one week to another within individuals and their happiness is positively related to their productivity, the number of calls they do, the quality of the calls as measured through customer satisfaction and less absenteeism,” said Prof De Neve.