<
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230220-is-a-4-day-workweek-good-for-the-climate>
'In 2011, Simon Ursell and the three other co-founders of newly born
environmental consultancy Tyler Grange based in Gloucestershire, UK, decided to
give all their workers a day off a month to volunteer.
They had found that many of their new employees already spent their free time
volunteering in wildlife trusts. "Our ecologists have always loved being
ecologists," Ursell says.
But last year, Tyler Grange took what some would see as a far more radical step
towards workers wellbeing by trying out giving all employees a fifth of their
workweek off.
The company joined the world's biggest ever four-day workweek trial, which took
place in the UK from June to December 2022. The pilot aimed to assess whether
companies could maintain productivity with a reduced working time – and,
importantly, with no loss in pay for employees.
Managers and workers at Tyler Grange celebrated the breakthrough with
enthusiasm, with their results showing daily productivity rose by 22%. But
Ursell was also keen to measure another outcome: the impact of the shorter
workweek on the company's carbon footprint. And the four-day workweek turned
out to be surprisingly good for this too, he says.
"On average we saw a 21% reduction in the number of miles travelled by car," he
notes with a cheerful smile. Tyler Grange cut out meetings and travel that were
unnecessary. Many employees used their additional days off to become even more
involved in climate volunteering.'
Via
The Fixer March 1, 2023:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/climate-action-is-a-four-day-work-week/>
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
