UK businesses could benefit from £62.7bn profit boost with four-day week, research finds

With the UK Government recently passing a bill enabling employees to request a shorter work week, research by Sopro has revealed that a four day week could boost profits for many businesses.

2,900 employees from 61 organisations recently participated in the UK’s largest four-day week trial, which saw the businesses involved benefit from a 1.4% revenue increase over the seven-month period, despite maintaining 100% of staff wages.

According to Sopro’s research, in the wholesale and retail trade, the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles industry had the largest current turnover of £1.5m, standing to gain the most in absolute terms, with an additional £21bn in revenue.

Manufacturing followed, with a turnover of £608.2bn and a projected increase of £8.5bn.

The professional, scientific and technical activities sector, with £458.1bn in current turnover, was expected to grow by £6.4bn.

The construction industry, with a current turnover of £371.1bn, was forecasted to increase by £5.2bn, while the information and communication industry, which has a turnover of £355.7bn, could see a £5bn boost.

The administrative and support service activities sector, at £315.3bn, could gain £4.4bn in revenue.

The mining and quarrying, electricity, gas and air conditioning along with water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities sector, with a turnover of £202.3bn currently, was projected to grow by £2.8bn, matching the projected gains for the transportation and storage industry, which has a turnover of £197.4bn.

The human health and social work activities industry, with a turnover of £105.7bn, was expected to gain £1.5bn, while the accommodation and food service activities industry, with a turnover of £103.1bn, could grow by £1.4bn.

Steve Harlow, chief sales officer at Sopro, said: “Even if your business doesn’t implement a four-day workweek itself, the growing popularity of a shorter workweek could mean that touchpoints with other business contacts and potential customers embracing the change are reduced.

“For any sales team, maximising prospecting efforts to make up for this shortfall will become increasingly important.”