london work less get morea trial of a fourday workweek in britain billed as the worlds largest has found that an overwhelming majority of the 61 companies that participated from june to december will keep going with the shorter hours and that most employees were less stressed and had better worklife balancethat was all while companies reported revenue largely stayed the same during the trial period last year and even grew compared with the same six months a year earlier according to findings released this weekwe feel really encouraged by the results which showed the many ways companies were turning the fourday week from a dream into a realistic policy with multiple benefits said david frayne research associate at university of cambridge who helped lead the team conducting employee interviews for the trial we think there is a lot here that ought to motivate other companies and industries to give it a trythe universitys team worked with researchers from boston college autonomy a research organization focused on the future of work and the 4 day week global nonprofit community to see how the companies from industries spanning marketing to finance to nonprofits and their 2900 workers would respond to reduced work hours while pay stayed the samenot surprisingly employees reported benefits with 71 less burned out 39 less stressed and 48 more satisfied with their job than before the trialof the workers 60 said it was easier to balance work and responsibilities at home while 73 reported increased satisfaction with their lives fatigue was down people were sleeping more and mental health improved the findings showthats just what plattens fish and chips restaurant in the english seaside town of wellsnextthe sea has found especially in the hospitality industry where people often work seven days a weekeveryone is focused everyone knows what theyre doing everyone is refreshed said kirsty wainwright general manager of the restaurant about a threehour drive northeast of london what it means is that they are coming into work with a better frame of mind and passing that on to obviously the clients and the public that are coming here for their meals theyre getting a greater service because the team are more engagedstarting the trial going into the busy season in june plattens which is open seven days a week found the biggest hurdle was finding a model that worked for everyone wainwright saidthey constantly communicated with employees to find what worked best which was having the staff split into two groups allowing one group to work two days on and other to have two days off she saidthe concept lets people work have a day to do chores like cleaning the house and then have two days off seeing your friends seeing your family doing some stuff yourself wainwright said and thats what this is all about is actually just working to live and not living to workfor companies that rolled out the shorter work hours whether it was one less workday a week