Lately, you might have heard rumblings about a lucky few taking part in a four-day working week on full pay and felt a pang of jealousy. In theory, it sounds like a dream scenario, right? Fewer hours, less commuting time, the same wage. But does it really mean less stress too?

The idea was first floated in the UK by the Labour party in 2019, who suggested it could improve everything from productivity and worker health to gender equality and the environment. And they weren’t alone in this assumption: more than half (52%) of women recently surveyed by LinkedIn said that a lack of flexibility at work has pushed them to leave or consider leaving a job, while 30% said that working more flexibly would improve their mental health.

Now, over three years later, the UK’s very own four-day working week trial is taking place. Spanning six months with over 3,300 workers at 70 companies across industries such as banking, hospitality, tech and care, it aims to assess whether productivity levels can remain the same on fewer days. To do this, the companies are working with non-profit 4 Day Week Global in partnership with the think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week Campaign and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College.

But what is it actually like in practice? Are you simply exhausted by the end of the fourth day, with less meaningful contact with colleagues and a just-as-tough workload? Or is it the solution to burnout that we’re all hoping for? 

Charmaine St John, head of people at Hutch, a London-based company that makes free-to-play mobile phone games, has been at her organisation for a year and a half and manages two other people. Her job is to look out for strategy, learning and development and colleagues’ wellbeing, and for the last month, she has been trialling the four-day working week.

A month in, she shares her learnings.