Public sector one step closer to four-day working week after ‘overwhelmingly positive’ trial
A four -day working week trial in the public sector has given “overwhelming positive” results and can pave the way for the model to be adopted more widespread.
Two Scottish Public Sector organs in the organs of the workers-influence accountant (AIB) and Scotland Enterprise south (Sose) -In a year-long hearing, without loss of payment or benefit of benefit passed to a 32-hour week.
A total of 259 workers are employed between the two organizations and almost all of them participate in the hearing. In both cases, the personnel has given more satisfaction with less stress and work and work-life balances related to the work.
Almost all workers in Sose (98 percent) said that the four-day weekly hearing improved morale and motivation in the workplace, and said that it was ‘very satisfied with the balance of work-life’ from 84 percent to 84 percent.
The staff with care responsibilities gave some of the most powerful answers to the pilot and some described it as “life -changing”.
The hearing was coordinated by the Institute of Autonomy, appointed by the Scottish Government.
“The results of the Scottish government pilot, the President of the Executive Board, have been positive with an overwhelming majority and show that both workers and employers have developed.
“These groundbreaking results show that the public sector can achieve similar benefits such as better productivity, working welfare and work-life balance.
“As the promotion of artificial intelligence accelerates among the industries, it is very important that both the public and private sectors experience the benefits of these developments and one of the easiest ways to achieve this is to shorten the working week.”
Both participants made it clear that they want to protect normal service levels. To activate this, the personnel days were graded to ensure that the service was protected for the whole working week.
Both organizations chose to extend the pilot beyond the trial period.
The success of the hearing comes after the Southern Cambridgeshire Regional Council, ruled by the Liberal Democrat, has become the first British local authority to permanently adopted a four -day working week in July.
A similar trial period was made before the decision, and an independent report found that 21 out of 24 Council services have developed or remained the same since the new working model started in 2023.
The report also showed that the number of people applying to the Council increased by more than 120 percent, and that the council provides an annual savings of £ 399.263 due to low agency personnel costs.
Scottish Finance Minister Ivan McKkee said that despite positive results, there will be no wider presentation in the government at the moment.
“Although the Scottish government and agencies will not be moved to a 32 -hour week, the pilot has identified several examples of more efficient and innovative working practices that will be presented to the wider public sector to guide the reform,” he said.
