Tech Firm Abandons Four-Day Week Trial Due to Increased Staff Stress and Contrary Results

A tech company has halted its trial of the four-day working week after it made staff more stressed, with the boss saying the results were “the opposite of what we were trying to achieve”.

Internet services company Krystal started the shorter week in June and plans to continue the experiment for six months.

The company hoped to improve the wellbeing of its staff following research that found four-day weeks could increase productivity by 40 per cent.

However, the trial was halted and staff will today return to a normal five-day week after Krystal founder Simon Blackler admitted it had not worked.

In an email to customers published by the temperature Mr. Blackler wrote: “Although the team members were given an extra day off, we found that the extra recovery time did not increase production by the 20 percent needed to replace the one who had been lost.”

“While the team fought admirably to stay on top of their work and responded as quickly as possible, it came at a cost: working hours were now much more stressful than before.

“During the trial, you may have experienced slower or lower quality support than you are used to. If this is the case, I would like to apologize and can reassure you that things will return to normal next week.

Mr Blacker said he was still happy that they had tried and improved work-life balance by shortening their working day to end at 5pm instead of 6pm.

This follows a poll in March which found almost two-thirds of workers would prefer to work a four-day week.

A survey of 12,000 people by job agency Hays found that almost two in three workers would support the change.

One in three employers said they would be more likely to accept the change if staff spent all four days on site.

Just under two in three workers said they would consider changing jobs if another company offered a shorter work week.

Survey follows study that finds a four-day workweek really works

During a six-month period starting in June 2022, 61 UK companies reduced their employees’ working hours by 20 per cent, with no changes to their pay.

Staff who participated were surveyed throughout the trial, and 71 percent reported lower levels of burnout than before, while 39 percent said they were less stressed.

During this time, the majority of bosses found that productivity targets continued to be met, and they even enjoyed an average increase of 1.4 percent in their income.

The program was coordinated by campaign groups 4 Day Week Global and 4 Day Week Campaign in the UK, think tank Autonomy and academics from the University of Cambridge and Boston College in the US.