The UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, America and Spain are all partaking in a four day working week this year to see if employees can work less and gain more.

The four day working week trial led by researchers at Boston College and Oxbridge will run for six months to determine if employees can be more productive by working for one less day every week and until now, it has received a phenomenal response.

Professionals from across the world have been taking to social media platforms in the masses to plea with the participating employees, hoping their success will set a precedent for employees everywhere but while the move is being welcomed by HR leaders, Family Office Leaders are adamantly against the idea.

In fact, according to our recent survey, 72% of Family Office Leaders said they would not even try a four-day working week within their Family Office with just 28% giving it a go.

With nearly three-quarters of Family Offices not prepared to even trial the new movement, could they be missing out on the secret ingredient to organisational success?

According to the 4 Day Week not-for-profit community, 85% of American professionals approve the move, 63% of businesses said they find it easier to attract and retain talent with the offering of a four-day week and 78% of employees who work for four-days a week, on the same pay scale as full-time employment, said they are much happier and less stressed.

The organisers believe it is time for a change. On their website they claim: “A hundred years ago, we moved from working six-day weeks to five, and we’re overdue for an update. The 4-day work week is a reduction in the work week from a standard 40 hours to 32 hours for the same pay and benefits. This reduction has been proven to work for employees and employers.”

While it may be difficult to argue the benefits of a four-day working week, it is equally as tough to imagine Family Offices giving the green light to the new initiative.

Family Offices have just wrapped their heads around the idea of remote working and the only reason it was implemented was because it was a forced government initiative that they had no choice but to abide by.

Family Office Leaders always knew that remote working could work but they needed to see it before their own eyes. When it comes to a four-day working week, not only is it a new idea where the benefits are yet to be proven in the Family Office world, but it feels counterintuitive to Family Office leaders. These are institutions where ‘there are never enough hours in a day’. There are often five professionals charged with managing extraordinary wealth and as a result, each has several different hats to wear. The idea of having them perform the same task in eight less hours might just be an impossible thing to imagine for Family Offices.

Do you envision the four day trial being a success and if so, would your Family Office implement it?