SHOP FLOP
Asda axes four-day working week for all employees after staff complained they were exhausted & couldn’t get to work
The retailer is still testing a working pattern that involves a 39-hour working week across five days
ASDA has dropped its four-day working week for all its staff after there were complaints employees were exhausted and couldn’t get to work.
The high street supermarket chain introduced a flexible working scheme last year, which allowed managers to work a 44-hour week over four days, without losing any pay.
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But the system has been ditched after workers claimed the 11-hour shifts were too “physically demanding” and left them worn out on the extra day they were not at work.
Employees also said they struggled to cope with the early starts and late finishes.
Those who relied on public transport said they were particularly affected by the change.
Parents also said the extended days made it harder for them to drop off and pick up their kids from school.
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In a response to the feedback, Asda has now abandoned the pilot scheme, along with a planned trial of a nine-day fortnight.
However, the retailer is still testing a working pattern that involves a 39-hour working week across five days, without reducing pay.
Asda said this had proved to be more popular and will run the trial until the end of this year.
It comes as Britain’s largest trade union, Unison, is gearing up to lobby the new Labour Government to introduce a four-day week although Sir Keir Starmer’s administration is seeking to downplay this.
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The Labour Government is expected to push NHS workers to work longer hours as a way of reducing the waiting lists and is also looking to speed up the planning process in order to kickstart housebuilding measures.
A multi-year trial carried out by the district council in South Cambridgeshire found public sector workers who did a four-day week increased productivity and had more job satisfaction.
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Staff turnover also fell by 39 per cent, making the council a saving of £371,000 a year on agency staff costs.
Joe Ryle, the director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, said the results gave “a huge opportunity for councils and organisations across the public sector to start planning for a four-day working week”.
He added: “These results prove once and for all that a four-day week with no loss of pay absolutely can succeed in a local government setting.
“Not only has work-life balance dramatically improved but so has the performance of the council.
“With a more sympathetic Labour government now in place, there is a huge opportunity for councils and organisations across the public sector to start planning for a four-day working week.”
An Asda spokesman said: “We began trialling four different flexible working patterns for managers in 20 stores last year.
“In April we announced that two of those trials, a new retail structure and five shorter working days, would run until the end of the year following positive feedback from colleagues in these stores.
“We will continue to test different flexible working patterns to assess how these can benefit our colleagues and our business.”
Household appliance specialist Domestic & General previously scrapped a four-day week pilot scheme, saying the extra hours left employees feeling “psychologically” drained.
D&G chief executive Matthew Crummack told : “Half the team absolutely loved it, half the team didn’t like it at all - it makes for a longer day, it’s a bit more intense.”
Last year, internet services firm Krystal binned a four-day week scheme after claiming colleagues struggled to get all their weekly tasks done in the reduced time.
The firm responded though by shortening the length of their working day from six hours to five.
Sainsbury’s shook up its working practices last year and introduced flexible working, including a four-day working week.
The supermarket giant said it has been looking at ways to make its work schedules more flexible and better for employees.
It said that while it not trialling a formal four-day week, some staff may end up working a shorter week as a result.
In January this year, thousands of staff at Morrisons were allowed to move onto a new work schedule.
Staff at the supermarket's Bradford HQ have been allowed to move to a four-and-a-half-day week.
Those affected include Morrisons commercial and teams as around 2,000 staff in total take on the changes.
The world’s biggest trial of a four-day working week was hailed a “major breakthrough” last year.
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The trial saw 61 companies across a variety of sectors in the UK commit to reducing their working hours for all staff by 20 per cent, for six months from June 2022.
The results revealed a significant drop in the rates of stress and illness among the approximately 2,900 staff trying a shorter working week.
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