A four-day week trial by civil servants working for two government agencies upped their productivity as well as boosted staff wellbeing, according to the results of the year-long experiment.
Two government agencies, South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE), an economic and community development body, and Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) – Scotland’s Insolvency Service, took part in the pilot, launched by the Scottish government last year,
Both bodies, which employed a total of 259 employees during the length of the year-long trial, implemented a 32-hour working week for a year without any loss in pay or benefits for staff, while insisting normal levels of service had to be maintained. Part-time staff were offered a pro-rata amount of time off.
Prior to the experiment AiB started from a full-ti