Question

In the spring, a consultancy published the results of a six-month trial of the four-day working week involving sixty firms. Participating employees kept their full salaries while working thirty-two hours instead of forty. Of the sixty firms, thirty-eight reported that output was essentially unchanged, fourteen reported an increase, and eight reported a decline. Staff turnover fell at more than half of the firms, and sick leave fell at forty-four. The report’s authors describe these figures as “decisive”. Critics are less certain. Every participating firm volunteered, and several had already experimented with flexible hours; a sample so self-selected, they argue, tells us little about how a bakery, a hospital or a call centre would fare if the shorter week were imposed. The authors concede the point but note that none of the eight firms reporting a decline abandoned the experiment. Whether that reflects satisfaction or merely the cost of reversing a contractual change is a question the report does not address, and one that only a longer trial, with a randomly chosen control group, could settle. The final sentence implies that the question remains open and that settling it requires

Accepted Answer

a longer study with a randomly chosen comparison group

Answer

a survey of staff satisfaction in the eight firms

Answer

a larger group of volunteer firms from many sectors

Answer

a repeat of the trial in the same sixty firms

The final sentence implies that the question remains open and that settling it requires

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