The Dundee workers receiving 100% pay for 80% of the hours

A UK-wide pilot trialling the four-day working week has begun, with two Dundee firms taking part.

Across the country, 70 companies and 3,300 workers have started working a four-day week with no loss of pay.

Firms taking part will give 100% of workers’ pay for 80% of the time, in exchange for a commitment to maintain at least 100% productivity.

Dundee-based game developer Hutch and animation studio Salamandra are both taking part in the largest pilot of the project yet.

The pilot is running for six months and is organised by 4 Day Week Global.

Four-day week for Dundee firms

Games firm Hutch moved into Water’s Edge at Dundee’s City Quay after it was acquired for £275 million.

By taking part in the 4 Day Week Global’s trial programme Hutch hopes to improve productivity and employee health.

Chief executive Shaun Rutland said: “When we started Hutch 10 years ago, enabling our team to have the best possible work life balance was a priority.

“We’ve had a decade of tweaking the way we work.

“The trial is a natural next step for us to promote productivity, sustainability and better work life balance for Hutchies.

“We want the industry to learn alongside us and use our results to help make working in games the fantastic experience it should be.”

All staff across its Dundee, London and Nova Scotia offices will take part.

Hutch games include Rebel Racing, F1 Manager and Top Drives, which have 300 million downloads.

Measuring impact on productivity

Animation studio Salamandra – with offices in Dundee, Eton and San Francisco – hopes the trial will lead to the best possible work life balance for its staff.

Earlier this year, chief executive Christine MacKay said she was excited to find out if the shorter working week is possible.

She said: “There’s still a long road ahead, but we are excited to see what the programme has in store for us.”

Researchers will work with each firm in the pilot to measure the impact on productivity and the wellbeing of staff.

They will also look into the impact on the environment and gender equality.

Global momentum behind four-day week

Social enterprise The Circle started testing a four-day week in October 2020.

The new way of working was made permanent and the 17 staff now have either Monday or Friday off.

Founder Kirsty Thomson said the impact on morale has been astonishing.

4 Day Week Global chief executive Joe O’Connor said reduced hours and output-focused working will give firms a competitive edge.

“The UK is at the crest of a wave of global momentum behind the four-day week,” he said.

“More and more companies are recognising that the new frontier for competition is quality of life.

“The impact of the ‘great resignation’ is now proving that workers from a diverse range of industries can produce better outcomes while working shorter and smarter.”