COVENTRY’S Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) has announced it will be bringing in a four-day work week after trialing the idea for two years.
The test carried out by the research and technology firm and a staff survey found 50 per cent of employees reported higher productivity and 83 per cent of staff members were happier. A total of 40 per cent said that their mental health had improved.
The decision to trial this approach came after an in-depth review of flexible working options following employee feedback.
The trial also found that 664tonnes of carbon would be saved a year from all employees making one fewer journey to work each week.
A separate evaluation by Loughborough University found employees’ reactions had been ‘overwhelmingly positive’ to the new conditions and the flexible working had been a big draw for new recruits.
Initial research found work-life balance was important to millennials and generation Z, of which 79 per cent of MTC’s workforce fall into those categories.
The trial, which began in April 2020, offered 615 employees the chance to have a fully flexible working week.
They found 96 per cent of staff wanted the fully flexible week to be made permanent following the first year of the trial and business productivity was improved.
All 820 of its employees will be given access to fully flexible working from September without any salary reduction.
MTC will share data and lessons learnt from the trial with industrial partners including Rolls-Royce, Siemens, and Meggitt.
MTC chief executive Dr Clive Hickman OBE said: “Flexible working has been the norm at the MTC long before the pandemic, but employees told us there was more we could do.
“The MTC is striving to become the most attractive employer in the country, and this is a big step towards achieving that.”
