They tried a four-day work week and it was so successful that they decided to keep it.

(CNN) — A year after the world’s largest trial of a four-day workweek ended, the vast majority of participating companies were still allowing their employees to work a shorter week, and more than half had made the change permanent.

Over a six-month period from June to December 2022, workers at 61 organizations in the UK worked 80% of their normal hours with equal pay in exchange for a commitment to do 100% of their normal work.

At least 89% of these companies still have the policy, and at least 51% have made the four-day workweek permanent by the end of 2023, according to a report published by one of the trial organizers. The two companies did not respond to the researchers who wrote the report.

The research was published this Wednesday by Autonomy, a group of experts who carried out the 2022 study with the non-profit organization 4 Day Week Global and the 4 Day Week UK campaign, in collaboration with researchers from the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Boston. College.

The impact of reduced working hours has been extremely beneficial for employees and their businesses, the report said.

At the end of the trial, employees reported improved physical and mental health, greater work-life balance, overall life satisfaction and less burnout. These improvements continued a year later.

“The key point is that the strong six-month results are not due to novelty or short-term impact. These effects are real and long-lasting,” said Juliet Shore, a sociology professor at Boston College who interviewed company employees who took part in the trial.

Managers and CEOs of 28 organizations also agreed to answer additional questions. They all said the four-day work week had a positive impact on their business. Staff turnover fell in half of the organisations, almost a third said the policy had markedly improved recruitment and 82% reported a positive impact on staff wellbeing.

The Autonomy report also highlights the methods organizations have used to maintain a four-day work week, including rethinking meeting policies, work communication and prioritization.

“From this research, it is clear that the four-day working week is not just a fad: businesses across the UK have managed to make it work,” the authors write.

About half of the 61 organizations participating in the 2022 study are in the marketing and advertising, professional services and nonprofit sectors. The rest span a variety of industries, including construction, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, arts and entertainment.

Calls for a shorter working week have become more frequent in recent years. These calls have increased as millions of employees have switched to remote work and stopped traveling during the pandemic, saving time and money.

Several experiments with a four-day workweek have been conducted around the world, including a trial in 2022 at 33 companies with the majority of workers based in the US and Ireland.