UK company adopts four-day work week so employees can focus on themselves

The policy has been extended across the company following a "successful trial period".

A company in the north west of England has adopted a four-day working week across the business to give its employees a "better work/life balance." Greater Manchester-based company Belmont Packaging has adopted the new approach, along with its sister company Boxed-Up Packaging, after trialling the policy in its manufacturing department in late 2019. The aim was that the shorter working week could give staff "more time to focus on themselves, their mental health and their loved ones". The change was a success and is now being rolled out across the rest of the company from September 20, according to Manchester Evening News. Commercial manager Gareth Rollo said: "As well as valuing our customers, business trade partners and suppliers we also value our biggest assets, the employees whose hard work, commitment and dedication make our business the success it is.

"In order to further recognise this, and to lead the way in employee health and wellbeing, we are delighted to announce an industry-leading change to ways of working which is intended to give our employees a better work-life balance while allowing us to continue giving our customers the first-class products and service they are accustomed to."

https://twitter.com/Boxed_Up/status/1438890000909799428

There is a growing conversation around the benefits of a shorter working week, with Scotland saying it would be trialling the initiative after research found that 80% of people believed that cutting their number of days at work, with no loss of pay, would have a "positive effect on their wellbeing".

This year, Iceland took part in the world's biggest-ever trial of a four-day week, whilst the government in Japan has made serious efforts to make a shorter working week the norm.

Under a new pilot programme launched in Ireland earlier this year, meanwhile, employers have been invited to introduce a four-day week for their employees over a six-month period starting in January 2022.