A trial that’s giving employees the chance to work just four-days a week is currently being trialled at some companies across the UK.
It may sound a little too good to be true, but it’s not.
This six-month pilot programme is being performed by 4 Day Week Global, along with think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week UK campaign, and researchers from Cambridge University, Oxford University, and Boston College, and as part of the trial, employees at each of the companies signed-up to take part will work for just 80% of their normal contracted work week at 100% of their pay for the sole purpose of monitoring the impact it has on productivity, as well as staff welfare.
It’s called the ‘100:80:100’ model – you will get paid for 100% of your work, but for it to be fair, the catch is that you must agree to work at 100% productivity.
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Participating businesses and companies will receive support from those organising the trial, and that includes access to experts and pioneers within the field, mentoring, and research by top academics.
The plan is to get 30 businesses on board, and mirror some of the successful programmes that have already been carried out, and are planned elsewhere in the world this year.
Once the six-month trial is complete, the programme organisers will take a look at the project as a whole, crunch the numbers, and attempt to ascertain what effect the four-day working week had on productivity for the businesses involved, as well as the wellbeing of its workers, and the impact on the environment and gender equality.
Other studies in the past claim to have found that a four-day week is better for both productivity and worker wellbeing, but there is undoubtedly more research to be done, and that’s what this trail is aiming to do.
Speaking on the trial, Joe O’Connor – Pilot Programme Manager for 4 Day Week Global – said: “More and more businesses are moving to productivity focused strategies to enable them to reduce worker hours without reducing pay [and] we are excited by the growing momentum and interest in our pilot program and in the four-day week more broadly.
“The four-day week challenges the current model of work and helps companies move away from simply measuring how long people are ‘at work’, to a sharper focus on the output being produced.
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“2022 will be the year that heralds in this bold new future of work.”
“This scheme has tremendous potential to progress from conversations about the general advantages of a shorter working week to focussed discussions on how organisations can implement it in the best possible way,” added Brendan Burchill, from Autonomy.
Army ‘on standby’ as UK prepares for more postal, rail, lecturer and nurses strikes in December
Danny Jones
The armed forces are said to be “on standby” to help fill various roles ahead of a new raft of strikes across health, education and postal sectors this month.
Royal Mail workers, university lecturers and sixth-form college staff are committed to walking out over pay disputes on Wednesday, 30 November as various organised strikes persist across the country.
Countless employees from various industries who feel they are underappreciated and underpaid are set to join the ongoing rail strikes, as well as the thousands of nurses expected to follow suit on the picket line throughout December.
Now, as per the interim chief executive of NHS Providers Saffron Cordery, given the strikes’ proximity to Christmas, roping in the British military now seems likely. Dr Emma Runswick of the British Medical Association said there is there a simple way to put an end to mass industrial action: pay people fairly.
"It is a solvable problem, you just have to be willing to come to fair deals with us."
Dr Emma Runswick, of the British Medical Association, explains how government 'is able to stop strike action' in the NHS.
Speaking to Sky News on Thursday morning, Cordery confirmed that while the army is waiting in the wings to help fill relevant NHS roles, “the reality is if the army or other armed forces step in it will very much be at the margins rather than going out and driving ambulances”.
It remains unclear whether army personnel will be needed to combat the impending labour shortage across other industries. Regardless, the Communication Workers Union are going ahead will a series of strikes in December.
Having formally called on Royal Mail employees to join the national demonstrations for strike action on the following days:
Friday, 9 December
Sunday, 11 December
Wednesday, 14 December
Thursday, 15 December
Friday, 23 December
Saturday, 24 December
As for rail workers, RMT Assistant General Secretary Eddie Dempsey shared a similar sentiment, assuring that while the train drivers and the transport sector, in general, are standing firm, negotiations with Network Rail and other operators continue this week.
Could we see rail strikes called off?
Eddie Dempsey, @RMTunion Assistant General Secretary, believes there's been a “change of tone” under new Transport Secretary Mark Harper, and says negotiations with Network Rail are continuing this week.#KayBurley#AskTheUnionLeaders LT pic.twitter.com/beOYTLTgXs
In addition to RMT members across 14 rail companies striking on 13-14 and 16-17 December, as well as 3-4 and 6-7 January, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) said that staff working onboard and station roles will take action against Avanti West Coast on 13, 14, 16 and 17 December.
Meanwhile, the National Education Union (NEU) which represents 77 sixth-form colleges in England are also striking over pay, stating that in real terms, teachers have suffered a pay cut of around 20% since 2010.
Furthermore, the University and College Union (UCU) already held a 48-hour strike last week and is now set to hold another 24-hour walkout among university staff. As well as organising a large rally in London, union members across at least 150 different institutions will be joining the December strikes.
WE NEED EVERY MEMBER TO RT THIS SPEECH
Today is a historic day. Our biggest ever rally
The bosses thought scenes like this were impossible
They thought we were too tired, too overwhelmed, too weak
It’s going to be an interesting end to the year and it remains to be seen what, if any measures the government will take to curb what has been described as the greatest period of industrial action since the 1980s.
An MP took the mick out of Harry Maguire in Ghanaian parliament and we can’t get over it
Danny Jones
Hello and welcome to another edition of ‘Headlines We Never Thought We’d Write’. In this week’s episode, a Ghanaian MP mocked Harry Maguire in the middle of parliament and we want answers.
Now, if you’re coming here looking for answers as to exactly why a random politician all the way over on the other side of the world, of all people, chose to mock Harry Maguire in Ghanaian parliament, we’ll stop you right there: we’re just as confused as you are.
That being said, let’s go on this journey together.
Here is Ghana’s Isaac Adongo, MP for the Bolgatanag Central, going in on the Sheffield-born United defender as a way of digging out the opposition:
As you can see in the rather surreal two-and-a-half-minute clip, Adongo is taking aim at the government’s Vice President and Head of the Economic Management Team, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, when he decides to use the 29-year-old centre-back as a simile.
The MP explains that despite being perceived as one of the best defenders in the league when the club signed him, he went on to become “the biggest threat at the centre of Man United‘s defence”. Ouch.
Adongo goes on to add that Maguire was “tackling Manchester United players and giving assists to [his] opponents”, joking that even if they missed “he would score for them” and dubbing Bawumia the “economic Maguire” for scoring own goals against his own nation. Deary me.
To make things even more damning, the reaction from his peers says it all, as one by one they erupt in laughter and one MP is even compelled to get off his seat and walk away in sheer amusement.
We have no idea why, of all the analogies in the world the politician, chose to involve Harry Maguire’s misfortune at Man United, but the undeniably funny clip has left thousands online in tears.
Regardless of the fact the England international is currently doing the business in the 2022 World Cup thus far, it’s fair to say he’s had enough stick in recent years.
It feels as good a time as any to dig this one out:
Emily Sergeant -
17th January 2022 
