Planning a four-day week for your small business can feel like stepping into uncharted territory. Yet a growing number of UK firms have tested the model and report sharper focus, happier teams and stronger retention, with profits holding steady. For many women who started a business to gain control over their own time, it is also a way to extend that same principle to the people who work for them. This guide walks you through how to test, transition and embed a four-day week in your small business, based on UK evidence rather than hype.
What the UK evidence says about a four-day week for small businesses
The landmark UK pilot ran for six months from June 2022, involving 61 companies and around 2,900 workers. It was coordinated by 4 Day Week Global, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign and the think tank Autonomy, with research led by the universities of Cambridge and Boston College. Under the “100-80-100” model (100% pay for 80% of the time, in exchange for 100% productivity), 92% of the organisations chose to continue after the trial ended, and 18 confirmed the change was permanent. The final report, published in February 2023, found a 57% fall in the likelihood of staff quitting, while 71% of employees reported reduced burnout. Revenue stayed broadly stable, rising by 1.4% on average over the trial period, with pay unchanged. For small businesses, the four-day week is no longer a fringe experiment; it is a tested model with published results.
Individual firms report similar experiences. Coffee Break Languages, an online language-learning company based in Scotland, trialled several patterns before settling on a compressed-hours model. The team fits full-time hours into Monday to Thursday, and everyone has Fridays off. Pay stayed the same, and customers remain satisfied. Howards Chartered Certified Accountants in Stafford has also adopted a four-day week. The firm reports that team members feel more energised and that work-life balance has improved.
Picking the right four-day week model for your small business
A small business moving to a four-day week can choose from several structures. Consider:
- Reduced hours with the same pay (for example, moving from 40 to around 32 hours per week while keeping salary unchanged).
- Compressed hours (the same total weekly hours squeezed into four longer days).
- Hybrid or flexible models, where some roles vary their working days each week or provide cover on the non-working day.
Which model fits you depends on your service commitments, the roles in your team and seasonality. If clients expect coverage across all five weekdays, you may need a compressed or rotational cover model.
Steps to trial a four-day week in your small business
Before committing, test first. Here is how to run a four-day week trial in a small business:
- Engage your team early. Through one-to-one discussions and anonymous surveys, ask about concerns, preferences and which deliverables matter most. Consistent feedback loops matter; Coffee Break Languages found this critical.
- Define what “the same productivity” means. For each role, identify metrics: output, customer satisfaction, deadlines. Set baseline performance levels from current measures.
- Plan for operational coverage. Decide whether certain functions must be on call or offer partial cover on the extra free day. Alternatively, rotate days off so someone is always available.
- Adjust leave, pay and contracts. Under the 100-80-100 model, pay and holiday entitlement stay exactly as they were; what changes is working time, not reward. If you instead cut contracted hours or pay, holiday, sick pay and pension contributions must be recalculated pro rata. Either way, put the new arrangement in writing and update contracts before the trial begins.
- Prepare infrastructure and process changes. Cut low-value meetings, use focused “deep work” blocks and improve digital tools. In the 2022 UK pilot, firms commonly saved time by trimming unnecessary meetings.
- Run a trial period. Six weeks to six months is typical; the UK pilot itself ran for six months in 2022. Collect data throughout on revenue, customer feedback, staff wellbeing and stress levels. Decide in advance how you will measure success: turnover, retention and work quality, for example.
Legal and financial considerations for small business owners
Make sure your plan fits UK legal requirements and your financial position.
- Working Time Regulations: the law caps the average working week at 48 hours unless a worker opts out. Reduced-hours models must still comply. GOV.UK guidance explains the thresholds.
- Contract changes: if hours, pay or roles change, you must update contracts and employees must agree. Legal advice helps avoid disputes over holiday or sick pay.
- Payroll and benefits: under a same-pay four-day week, salary, pension contributions and leave usually stay untouched. If you cut hours or pay, recalculate everything pro rata. Watch one trap in particular: if hidden overtime creeps in, staff paid at or near the National Living Wage could slip below the legal hourly minimum.
- Business structure: your obligations differ depending on whether you operate as a sole trader or a limited company, particularly around pay, pensions and who counts as an employee. Our guide to choosing between sole trader and limited company status covers the basics.
- Financial forecasting: model worst-case and best-case scenarios, for example a dip in output early on or extra overtime and cover costs. In the 2022-23 UK pilot, revenue held broadly steady during the six months (up 1.4% on average). Participating companies also reported revenue around 35% higher than in comparable periods in previous years, according to the 2023 pilot report. Results vary heavily by sector and size, so treat these figures as indicative rather than guaranteed.
Anticipating challenges and how to solve them
Some challenges often catch businesses unprepared. Here is how to manage them:
- Customer expectations: if clients expect five-day access, set boundaries. Publish clear hours, communicate changes in advance and arrange emergency cover.
- Unequal team impact: not all roles adapt equally. Customer support, manufacturing or physical-presence roles may struggle. Consider mixed models: some roles work different days, others have shift cover.
- Work intensification risk: compressing tasks can lead to hidden overtime. Use monitoring and feedback to check employees are not simply working longer days. The 2022-23 UK pilot emphasised defining “deep work” periods and avoiding meeting overload.
- Holiday, sick leave and unforeseen absences: when someone is off, make sure it does not break contracted arrangements or overload colleagues. Pro rata leave calculations must match the new hours.
Embedding a four-day week culture for the long term
For the switch to last beyond the novelty phase, embed the changes in how your business runs.
- Review regularly. Use staff surveys, customer feedback and financial metrics each quarter to see what is working and what needs tweaking.
- Set productivity rituals: shared calendars, fixed meeting windows and quiet deep-work blocks help maintain focus and reduce wasted time.
- Train managers. Managing distributed schedules needs stronger planning, delegation and trust.
- Allow flexibility. What works in month one may shift by month twelve, so allow hybrid roles or alternate schedules where helpful.
- Communicate wins and learn openly. Sharing improvements in retention, wellbeing, product quality or customer satisfaction helps sustain buy-in.
Is a four-day week right for your small business?
If your business is small (say fewer than 50 employees), owner-managed or service-based, you are well placed to adopt a four-day week. You will need to assess whether your workload is steady or seasonal and whether clients can adapt. Your administrative systems must also support contract and payroll changes. In law, finance or healthcare there may be regulatory or continuity issues that need specific attention.
There is also a talent angle worth taking seriously. Flexible working is one of the strongest levers a small firm has for attracting and keeping skilled staff, and women, who still carry the larger share of caring responsibilities, consistently rank flexibility among their top priorities when choosing where to work. A credible four-day week can put a small business ahead of much larger employers in that contest.
You are more likely to succeed if your year-end cash flow allows you to absorb up-front costs. These might include overtime, temporary cover or hiring extra staff. A culture of trust and communication is also vital, so staff are ready to adapt and suggest improvements.
If, after trialling, you find productivity slips, do not be discouraged. Sometimes a hybrid week (five days with shorter hours each day, for example) or flexible leave arrangements are a better fit. Our view is simple: given the strength of the UK evidence, the question for most small firms is no longer whether a four-day week can work, but whether you have designed your trial carefully enough to find out.
Want to dig deeper? Read the full 2023 UK pilot report and the stories of firms such as Atom Bank, which moved roughly 430 staff to a four-day week in 2021 with no cut in pay, and Coffee Break Languages. For help with contracts, payroll and employment rights, see our employment law guidance for employers, and for modelling the financial impact, explore business finance for women founders. For the wider picture on women running UK businesses, visit our facts and figures page.
