Four-day working week being considerd for all staff at the Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust is considering moving all staff to a four-day week to boost productivity and improve work-life balance.

The biomedical research foundation is planning to trial the dramatic shift in working patterns this autumn, giving all 800 of its London-based head office employees Fridays off without a reduction in pay.

If the policy is adopted long term, it would become the biggest organisation in the world to make such a change.

Ed Whiting, Wellcome’s director of policy and chief of staff, said: “Like many organisations, Wellcome is continually looking at how we can increase the impact we make towards our charitable mission and improve staff wellbeing.

“Moving to a four-day week is one of a number of very early ideas that we are looking at that might be beneficial to welfare and productivity for everyone at Wellcome. It will be some months before we can consider a formal decision and we’re carefully considering the potential impact it could have on both our staff and the external community.”

Some parts of the organisation already operate a no-emails policy in the evenings or at weekends, but this would mark a more radical shift, allowing staff to volunteer, learn new skills, care for relatives or simply spend more time with their families.

The development comes after the TUC called for a move towards a four-day working week, citing research that found almost half of workers were behind the idea. It said UK workers put in the longest hours in the EU, behind only Austria and Greece.

A recent study by Oxford University economists found that a four-day working week would boost productivity.

Wellcome, the world’s second-biggest research donor after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has been monitoring the success of New Zealand insurance company Perpetual Guardian, which last year switched to a four-day working week.

Mr Whiting told the Guardian: “It looks like moving the working week to four days rather than five gets you a broader productivity and wellbeing benefit.

“You have a healthier workforce, a reduction in sickness absence and improved sense of work-life balance.”

He said analysis of the impact of Perpetual Guardian’s switch in March and April, which involved 240 staff, showed small increases in total output, despite staff working shorter hours.

Wellcome said it was still gathering evidence and would make a final decision in the coming months. It noted that one potential risk could be a loss of flexibility if people are required to work only Monday to Thursday.