UK Says 4 Day Is Workable!!
Karma Global Possesses a Panel of International Experts Be It
(1) Strategy Consultant
(2) Management Consultant
(3) Operations Consultant
(4) Financial Advisory Consultant And
(5) Human Resource Consultant!
Karma Management has now become Karma Global which was incorporated in the year 2004, having now completed almost 19 years of its existence.
As late as April 2021, Karma Global took a very bold step of venturing into foreign shores in terms of shoving up its business prospects in countries like US, UK, UAE, Canada, South East and South East Asia.
It has already made its mark in terms of providing excellent services in the areas of payroll, outsourcing, recruitment and talent acquisition, facility management services and regulatory compliances including immigration, negotiations and employment contracts in these foreign countries as well.
The major services provided by Karma Global include Regulatory Audit, Management Consulting, Strategy Consulting, Financial & Tech Advisory, Risk Advisory, and Legal.
Towards the end of April and the first fortnight of May 2023, Pratik Vaidya, MD & CVO of Karma Global was in the U.S. and Canada attending the Select USA Investment Summit 2023 which came to a close, marking the largest Investment Summit in Select USA history, with 4,900 attendees spanning 83 international markets that was well represented.
There was lot of interactive session at Bay Area Houston where the delegates were briefed about business divisions in Franchise, Business Brokerage, Consulting, Education, Technology and Business Immigration and assistance was also offered to the delegates in buying or selling businesses with more than 400 franchise opportunities.
This delegation in association with the Consulate General of India, US Commercial Service of Dallas, IACC of Greater Houston, the Greater Houston Partnership and Economic Development Offices is another step in IACC’s development of relations with the United States of America.
UK Says 4 Day Is Workable!!
In UK, over a 100 companies sign up for 4-day work week
In a policy that is being hailed as “transformative”, a hundred companies in the UK have signed up for a four-day working week on a permanent basis.
The policy is said to significantly change UK’s approach to work as it does not include loss of pay and will cover thousands of employees.
As per the The Guardian, advocates of the four-day week claim that the five-day work week is a hangover from an earlier economic age. “They argue that a four-day week would drive companies to improve their productivity, meaning they can create the same output using fewer hours,” reported The Guardian.
Positive inputs seem to be coming in from those who have already adopted the policy, as it attracts and even retains workers.
2 biggest Global companies sign up
Global marketing company Awin and Atom Bank are the two biggest companies that have signed up for the policy. Both have been accredited by the four-day week campaign, implying they have actually reduced hours rather than coercing their employees into working longer days.
Speaking to The Guardian, Awin’s chief executive Adam Ross said shifting to the four-day week was “one of the most transformative initiatives” in the history of the company. “Over the course of the last year and a half, we have not only seen a tremendous increase in employee wellness and well-being but concurrently, our customer service and relations, as well as talent relations and retention also have benefited,” he told The Guardian.
4-day work week trial yields overwhelming success in U.K., researchers say
A trial of a four-day workweek in Britain, billed as the world’s largest, has found that an overwhelming majority of the 61 companies that participated from June to December will keep going with the shorter hours and that most employees were less stressed and had better work-life balance.
That was all while companies reported revenue largely stayed the same during the trial period last year and even grew compared with the same six months a year earlier, according to findings released this week.
“We feel really encouraged by the results, which showed the many ways companies were turning the four-day week from a dream into a realistic policy, with multiple benefits,” said David Frayne, research associate at University of Cambridge, who helped lead the team conducting employee interviews for the trial. “We think there is a lot here that ought to motivate other companies and industries to give it a try.”
World’s largest four-day work-week trial in Britain proves to be a success, here’s how
- Every professional seeks to have some sort of work-life balance, especially after the pandemic-induced compulsory work-from-home culture, impacting employees’ mental health. In pursuit of a more fitting work culture which addresses the underlying issue of burnout and fatigue, employees of at least 61 British companies tried out a four-day working week culture, one which is deemed to be the world’s largest one, as per Autonomy, a British-based research organisation.
- The trial involved dozens of employees working for an average of 34 hours across four days between June and December 2022. During the four-week work trial, the employees earned the same salary as they would get otherwise. As exciting as the trial itself is, the result of it was even more impactful and thrilling.
- Out of these 61 firms where the employees tried out four-days’ work week, at least 56 companies, which is 92%, chose to stick with the same work week culture.
- A total of 18 of these firms even chose to make this a part of their permanent work culture. At least 2,900 employees spanning different sectors became part of the trial. It catered to sectors ranging from finance company Stellar Asset Management to digital manufacturer Rivelin Robotics and a fish-and-chip shop in the coastal town of Wells-next-the-sea.
- One of the most important and interesting key findings of the survey was that the productivity of the employees was maintained during the trial period. Additionally, the employees were also less likely to quit their jobs, in view of the satisfactory work-life balance.
- The priority for some of these employees was more days off and not more money. Four-day work week turned out to be much more satisfying for them. As per the survey, a total of 15 per cent of these employees said no amount of money would induce them back to a five-day week.
Nearly all firms that took part in the UK pilot are keeping reduced hours – but not all are fully embracing the new set-up.
Long-awaited data from the large-scale UK four-day workweek pilot arrived in February – and results were overwhelmingly positive.
Among the 60-plus companies that participated in the trial, from marketing agencies to financial firms, education services to fish and chip shops, 92% of employers said they would continue with a shorter workweek following the programme – with 30% making the change permanent. Among nearly 3,000 employees, 71% reported feeling reduced levels of burnout; there were also improvements in physical health and wellbeing.
In many cases, firms that participated in the pilot, organized by non-profit 4 Day Week Global, reported their workers have been able to spend more time with their families, pursue hobbies and take greater personal care.
Yet, despite these headline-grabbing results, the trial didn’t work for every business. Some firms abandoned the experiment; others haven’t yet made the move to adopt the format full-time. Even those firms continuing with reduced hours are navigating new challenges arising from shortened workweeks. Though this reflects a small portion of the trial’s participants, it means the four-day workweek isn’t an automatic solution for all.
Would you dare put your firm on a 4-day work week?
Customers/clients may not like the change and go with a competitor
If you go for the blanket ‘day off’ approach and close your business for an extra day, customers may not realize that they can’t get hold of you that day. If their enquiry is urgent or they get annoyed that you’re not available, they may go to someone else.
It’s not suitable for every business
Some businesses aren’t suited to the four-day working week. You’ll need the right support, technology and workplace culture in order for it to be a success. This could involve spending extra money on automation, outsourcing and/or HR platforms.
London’s Welcome Trust decided to scrap its trial because it was “too operationally complex to implement” for its 800 staff.
Treehouse, an HR firm in the US, dropped its four-day week as it was struggling to keep up with competitors.
Operations may be difficult if you have different working structures going on
If everybody’s days off are on different days, then some may feel pressure to work on ‘off days’ due to different schedules. Even if they don’t, not having staff in may disturb deadlines.
“If you change one person’s routine, you may find that it has an impact on another team. There may not have been a realization about the interconnectivity within a workplace between teams and individuals and the knock-on effects of that,” said Harper.
Not cost-effective
A paper by Jethro Elsden, data analyst at the Centre for Policy Studies, shows that a four-day week would be costly for the economy. Based on current productivity levels, the measure would cost £45bn. Even with ‘generous’ productivity gains, estimates suggest that it would still cost £17bn.
CONCLUSION: Is it illegal to work 7 days in UK?
You cannot work more than 48 hours a week on average – normally averaged over 17 weeks. This law is sometimes called the ‘working time directive’ or ‘working time regulations’. You can choose to work more by opting out of the 48-hour week. If you’re under 18, you cannot work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week.
Do 100 UK companies switch to 4 day working week?
The 100 companies employ around 2,600 staff in total. A hundred companies in the United Kingdom have signed up for a permanent four-day working week for all employees without cutting any pay.
Is working 12 hours illegal in UK?
12 hour shifts are legal. However, the regulations generally require that there should be a break of 11 consecutive hours between each 12-hour shift.
How many hours is a 4-day work week UK?
you may already know someone that works compressed hours and as such works full-time over 35 hours over 4 days. A four-day work week isn’t a compressed work schedule, but rather reduced hours. So, the employee would work around 28 hours over four days and have a three-day weekend.
Karma Global with Pratik Vaidya as its founder, has entered the global scenario both as a leader and a moderator with a record level participation from 4900 attendees from 83 international markets and 55 States and Territories.
In person Networking and informative programs on key industry topics gave insightful details affecting FDI community and also helped to connect with industry experts and economic development organizations so as to seize every opportunity available for expansion of business and getting to know many global companies with similar interest.
Karma Global took every opportunity to connect with the U.S. Department of Commerce, which promotes and facilitates business investment into the United States by coordinating related federal government agencies to serve as a single point of contact for investors. Select USA assists U.S. economic development organizations to compete globally for investment by providing information, a platform for international marketing, and high-level advocacy. Select USA also helps investors find the information they need to make decisions; connect to the right people at the local level; navigate the federal regulatory system; and find solutions to issues related to the federal government.
Karma Global has its offices in Newark, Delaware, USA and in Canada at Toronto, Ontario where it has been offering business expertise and business drivers with solutions, experience and knowledge.
Proprietary blog of Karma Management Global Tech Firm
This blog has been collated and compiled by the internal staff of Karma Global with the knowledge and expertise that they possess, besides adaptation, illustration, derivation, transformation, collection and auto generation for its monthly newsletter Issue 12 of June 2023 and in case of specific or general information or compliance updates for that matter, kindly reach out to the Marketing Team – Kush@karmamgmt.com / yashika@karmamgmt.com