紐時賞析／周休3日不減薪！英92%參與公司願意續辦 營收無負面影響

Inside the 4-Day Workweek Experiment

周休3日實驗結果揭密

On a recent Wednesday morning, Matt Kimber did not sign into his job as a senior engineer at a software company. Instead, he went for a walk around his London neighborhood, picked up lunch at a cafe, and played with his two greyhounds.

最近一個周三上午，身為一間軟體公司資深工程師的金柏沒有登入上班。他反倒是在自己居住的倫敦街區散步，去咖啡廳買午餐，並和他的兩隻灰狗玩耍。

His employer, BrandPipe, was pleased to hear it. The company is one of several British businesses testing a four-day workweek with no reduction in pay, part of a six-month trial involving about 1,000 workers organized by the advocacy group 4 Day Week.

他的雇主BrandPipe聽見這個消息很高興。該公司是多間測試每周工作4天但不減薪的英國公司之一。這是倡議團體「每周4日工作制」所籌畫為期6個月、涉及1000名員工試驗的一部分。

After a previous pilot in 2022, 56 of 61 participating companies, or 92%, said they would continue with the four-day week, the group said. It is hoping to pave the way for a 32-hour, four-day week to be enshrined under British legislation, reducing the maximum number of hours currently allowed by law. Similar efforts have taken hold in Iceland, New Zealand, Scotland and the United States.

該組織表示，上次於2022年進行試驗後，61間參與的公司有56間說，會繼續實施每周4日工作制，比率約92%。試驗希望為英國立法規定每周工作32小時、每周工作4日鋪路，減少法律目前允許的最大工時。冰島、紐西蘭和美國也曾進行類似行動。

“It’s sound business sense,” said Geoff Slaughter, a co-founder of BrandPipe. “If you’ve got a team that’s happy, you’re less likely to lose them.”

BrandPipe共同創辦人斯勞特表示：「這是明智的商業思維。如果你有一支快樂的團隊，就比較不可能失去他們。」

To prepare for the trial, BrandPipe, which is fully remote, went through six weeks of workshops run by the 4 Day Week Campaign to help work out the logistics. The company collectively decided on a flexible arrangement in which employees take different days off, to ensure that clients are covered through the week. Most companies in the pilot are giving employees an extra day off each week, while some opted for a day off every other week.

為準備這個試驗，採取全遠端工作的BrandPipe參加「每周4日工作制」舉辦為期6周的研討會，以協助解決後勤問題。該公司共同決定採取靈活的安排，讓員工在不同的日子休息，確保客戶整個星期都能得到服務保障。參與試驗的大多數公司每周給員工額外休假一天，而有些公司選擇每隔一周額外休假一天。

Everyone at BrandPipe attends a weekly team meeting, and key tasks have “surrogates” so that one employee can handle them if another is off, Slaughter said. The firm emailed clients explaining its participation in the pilot, he said, and reassured them that it would not cause disruptions.

斯勞特表示，BrandPipe的每一個人都會參加每周團隊會議，且重要工作都有「代理人」，因此若某位員工休假，另一名員工能處理這些工作。他說，該公司發送電子郵件向客戶解釋，公司參與每周4日工作制的試驗，並向他們保證不會造成困擾。

“What we’re trying to achieve here is making sure that we’ve got fresher minds for longer,” he said. “Because that’s when we’re doing our best work.”

他表示：「我們試圖達成的目標是，確保維持頭腦清醒更久。因為這樣我們的工作表現最好。」

After the first trial, from June to December in 2022, 70% of the nearly 3,000 employees involved said they felt a decrease in stress and burnout, while companies reported no negative impact to their revenue, according to a report by the program’s organizers.

計畫籌辦者的一份報告指出，2022年6月至12月的首次試驗後，參與試驗的近3000名員工中有70%表示，他們覺得壓力和倦怠有所減輕，而各家公司通報，試驗對他們營收沒有負面影響。

After the current trial, the campaign is planning to present the results to British officials, who have signaled an interest in reforming labor laws for British workers.

近期試驗後，該組織正計畫向英國官員展示結果，官員已表示有興趣為英國員工改革勞工法。

文／Isabella Kwai　譯／羅方妤