The 2024 Four-Day Week Pilot in the Scottish Public Sector, Plus Research on Working Time Reduction in the Private Sector
David and Daiga are working with the think-tank Autonomy to deliver and evaluate the Scottish Government’s pilot of a four-day working week in the public sector. The pilot will see a selection of departments in Scotland’s civil service try a four-day week for a one year period, without any loss in pay. The research element will focus on how the initiative impacts service delivery and other organisational outcomes, as well as factors such as staff well-being, time-use and job satisfaction. Autonomy’s proposal chose to focus on fairness and staff voice in the pilot, meaning that staff will be able to shape the parameters of the four-day week and evaluators will be paying close attention to any EDI implications. The project also has a wide range of partners, including academics from University of Cambridge, Boston College and Heriot-Watt University, as well as policy advisors from Future Economy Scotland.
In addition to the pilot, the team will compile a report covering lessons already learned from research and pilots on working time reductions in the private sector. This work complements David and Daiga’s ongoing research on the four-day week. Alongside the work with Scottish Government, David will also be collaborating with Autonomy to revisit companies from the 2022 UK four-day week pilot, to see how they are faring.
Team