Scotland trials four-day work week for public sector

Ministers confirmed a pilot was under way in the public sector from Wednesday, involving around 140 staff at South of Scotland Enterprise doing a 32-hour week without loss of pay.

Although this represents only three hours less per week, the shift to four day working is seen as key to changing people’s work-life balance.

The move, first announced by former First Minister Humza Yousaf as part of his Programme for Government last September, was confirmed in a written parliamentary answer by economy secretary Neil Gray.

He said: “The Scottish Government can confirm today work has commenced on the 4 Day Working Week Public Sector Pilot to assess the wellbeing, environmental and productivity benefits a 4 Day Working Week could bring.

“We have appointed Autonomy as our expert partner to support the pilot. The team involved in this project have previous 4 Day Working Week pilot experience including from the Valencian Government pilot, and the Icelandic public sector pilot.

“The South of Scotland Enterprise 4 Day Working Week pathfinder work is being folded into Autonomy’s methodology, and engagement will continue with other public bodies interested in participating in the 32-hour working week pilot.

“Autonomy will also provide support and evaluate organisations moving to a contractual 35-hour working week. This will capture valuable insights from a wider range of public bodies on different shorter work week models and be included in the 4 Day Working Week evaluation report.””

The four-day working week is expected to be trialled for 12 months in the public sector, with an eye on a wider roll-out if it’s judged to be a success.