Online bank Atom Bank has introduced a four-day week without pay cuts for its 430 employees. Employees now work 34 hours in four days and have Monday or Friday off, where they previously worked 37.5 hours throughout the week.
Chief Mark Mullen told the he was inspired by the pandemic and would help improve welfare and retain staff. However, employees have to work longer hours on their days.
“Before Covid, it was generally agreed that you should drive to work, sit at your desk all day. And repeat this process on your way home,” said Mullen, who has led the Durham-based bank since 2014. “Covid is showing us that it’s not necessary… I think doing 9-5 Monday to Friday is a pretty old-fashioned way of working.”
Atom was one of the UK’s first digital banks and had £2.7 billion in loans last fiscal year. His new work arrangements began on November 1 after a review found they would not affect customer service or productivity.
Mr. Mullen said the new agreement was voluntary but strongly reflected his employees’ preference for more flexible work. “Everyone is expected to comply,” he added. “I can’t email my employees on Friday; I can’t wait for them to reply.”
The working model has changed over time.
In the 19th century, most British workers worked six days a week. Still, in the 1930s, Henry Ford in the United States and the pharmaceutical chain Boots in England promoted two-day weekends to increase wealth and productivity. Calls for four days a week are increasing now, with similar claims being made to make people’s lives better.
A recent study found that a 4-day-week survey of public sector workers in Iceland was a “huge success” and helped reduce stress and burnout. And Microsoft in Japan said sales rose nearly 40 percent during an experiment in which employees got full pay for four days in 2019.
However, some entrepreneurs feel that this is not true.
In 2019, British research foundation Wellcome Trust scrapped plans to test four days a week for 800 employees at headquarters because it was “operationally too complicated.” The decision follows a three-month study that found that squeezing work into the Monday through. Thursday window could affect the well-being of some workers and impact productivity.
“Increased stress load”
“There is no doubt that reducing people’s working hours without sacrificing wages is a positive step for employers,” Ben Wilmot. Director of public policy at the Chartered Institute of Professional Development, told the News.
“However, I see the challenge of simply reducing working hours without further change in the fact that you can increase the stress load. Which is already one of the leading causes of lost work hours due to illness-related absenteeism.”
Atom encourages its employees to reduce their working hours in less time. And their operating hours are proportionately not reduced to a full day. But Mullen said workers would still earn the same salary and enjoy a “three-day weekend of a lifetime.”