Over the last six months, we have been running a trial at Pilotlight to cut our work hours by 15% while keeping pay and productivity the same.
The results are amazing – working patterns are more intense but the extra time, typically taken as one day a week, generates a real boost to staff well-being.
It was an option for staff to join in, and all of the team (24 people) signed up.
We have photos 📸 from the team on what they do with their ‘flex time’, as we call it (flex as we only get the time off if we have completed all our work), from gardening and spending time with family and pets, creative pursuits like needlework, community volunteering, travel and running around Hyde Park.
Care – for others and for oneself – is the big theme. When we have more time, this is how we use it.
I led this initiative as our Head of Operations and it took time for us to design something that fitted our ways of working and the needs of our partners. I learned a lot from others and am grateful for the generous advice we received. According to the 4 Day Week Foundation, around 230 UK companies have run trials and are now committed to reduced hours working.
I knew that it is one thing to believe it can work, another to test rigorously whether it does. We took seriously the need for comprehensive measurement, to gauge the effects. Here we drew on advice from our trustee – and academic researcher in her day job – Dr. Finia Kuhlmann.
The key findings are:
- Improved Well-being: Staff report a direct positive correlation between the reduced hours schedule and their mental health, feeling less stressed and more recharged. One colleague notes,
I sleep better, I am less stressed, I exercise more and I do more volunteering. I work hard and focused during the 4 days but without resentment and feeling like work is taking over my life.
- Sustained Performance & Productivity: The trial has not held back our organisational progress. Colleagues also indicate streamlined processes and improvements in communication and our overall culture.
- Positive Cultural Impact & Staff Retention: Everyone expressed a desire for this working model to continue. It was ranked as the top staff benefit, and we recorded a 3.7% decrease in voluntary staff turnover compared to the previous year.
The data and results were enough for our Board of Trustees, who have agreed to continue this as our way of working. This means a 15% reduction in working hours – for instance, a 32-hour week for full-time staff – with no change in salary.
There is some caution there too. We want to keep the approach fresh. There is a risk that we get the feel-good results at the start and then things taper off. Can we keep searching for new ways to work smarter and in a more productive way? Can we work all hours to meet the needs of our partners when we need to at peak times? Can we use this to attract and retain skilled new staff who see this as a competitive benefit?
While it may not be for everyone, this innovation feels absolutely right for Pilotlight. We bring together the best thinking from business and charities. By working at the intersection of both, we create greater learning, stronger organisations, and wider social impact.
Finding more flexible and sustainable ways to work is everyone’s concern. I am grateful for what we learned from others trying this out. We are proud to share what we are discovering as part of a wider movement for new ways of working.
