Inside the UK's 4-day week pilot, involving Oxford and Cambridge universities. Campaigners hope it can act as a blueprint for governments globally.

• A UK pilot to trial a 4-day working week will start in June. Campaigners hope 30 firms will enrol. 
• Academics from Oxford, Cambridge, and Boston College will collect data and monitor those involved.
• They hope to present a test case to governments and business leaders that a 4-day week is possible.

Joe Ryle estimates that his phone was ringing every 15 minutes during the week it was announced that a pilot to trial a four-day working week would begin in the UK in June. 

The six-month pilot is being run by the not for profit The Four Day Week Global in conjunction with the think-tank Autonomy, campaign group The Four Day Week UK and academics from Oxford and Cambridge Universities, as well as Boston College. 

The concept of a four-day work week is nothing new but it has gained traction over recent years from campaigners in response to rising levels of burnout, social inequality, and the climate crisis. 

They say that reducing the 40-hour work week will not only make workers happier, it can improve gender equality and help the environment. 

It seems others agree. Since announcing the UK pilot launch last week, Ryle, who is Campaign Director for the Four Day Week UK, said it's already attracted interest from hundreds of companies wishing to get involved.

They're aiming for around 30 companies to sign up before launching the trial in June. Those accepted onto the trial will adopt an 80-100 model of working, an 80% drop in hours, while retaining 100% pay and 100% of a worker's productivity for six months. 

Researchers from Oxford University, Cambridge University, and Boston College in the US will collect data from the trials, interview companies involved and come up with ways to measure how successful they've been. 

The participating companies will be whittled down to ensure a range of industries and types of business.  So far, just one —  the events company MLB Seminars —  has officially enrolled. The UK arm of the camera company Canon has also expressed strong interest in signing up. 

When the pilot officially ends in August, the campaigners plan to compile a report which they can then present as — alongside data from pilots Ireland in February and the US and Canada in April 2022 — a test case to governments and business leaders showing that it's possible to reduce hours. 

The trial hopes to change perceptions among workers

"The pilot is going to be useful for shifting the question about how we make it [a four day week] work," David Frayne, research associate at University Of Cambridge's Digital Futures at Work Research Centre, and one of the social scientists involved in the UK study, told Insider.

One of the biggest challenges Frayne sees is changing the perception of the public as to what a four-day week actually entails. 

While many dream of a long, three-day weekend, if the concept is going to work for everyone at all levels of the labor market — not just latte-sipping tech workers — it will not be one sized fits all.

For example, in a series of well-documented trials in Iceland, city service workers reorganized shift patterns and took on extra staff to cover the shifts. The average worker cut between two to five hours from their working week and experienced improvements in wellbeing. 

Campaigners argue that a reduction in working hours can typically be achieved by cutting down meetings and using technology to improve workload. 

Morgan Rigby, chairman of MBL Seminars, the company signed up to the UK pilot, said that the switch would provide them with the opportunity to "transform" the business "through innovation," as well as help the company to prioritize the wellbeing of its 70 employees.

Ryle is very clear about what it doesn't mean: "Compressing hours from five days into four doesn't solve the problems of workplace burnout stress, overwork and mental health issues," he said. It also shouldn't come with a reduction in pay. 

So how excited should people be? 

While the idea of a four-day work week has seemed incredibly popular among workers, and among the popular media, it's slowly gaining traction in political circles. 

Governments in Spain and Scotland have gone the furthest by pledging millions to fund as yet unspecified trials. Senate members within the devolved Welsh Parliament are actively debating the concept.

Many of those involved in the UK pilot have backgrounds in politics — Ryle is a former communications manager for the Labour party's shadow chancellor John Mcdonnell — however, they say the four-day week global pilot is independent and not working directly with politicians. 

In the US, the California Democrat Mark Takano has been one of the most high-profile advocates, his legislation seeks to reduce the threshold at which workers qualify for overtime pay, from 40 to 32 hours. 

Despite growing influence, amid labor shortages and the Great Resignation, it remains a goal that is out of reach for many. 

In January, Axios published an analysis it gathered from the jobsite Indeed. It estimates around 1,700 in every million listed roles offers a four-day week. Many remain to be convinced that it can be achieved at a large scale. 

It's for that reason that the campaigners say it's so important that there are pilots, to counter reluctance and resistance with clear and actionable data. 

The pandemic has opened people's eyes to the fact that the world of work can change quickly when we want it to, Ryle said: "We're very clear that this is a policy that has to benefit everyone. And of course, that's not gonna happen overnight. There's gonna be a transition to get there."