Friends of the Earth has become one of the first third sector organisations to move to a four-day week.
Employees will work five hours fewer each week and receive the same pay, the organisation said, in a move it hoped would make staff “more energised and focused”.
Adrian Cruden, head of people at Friends of the Earth, announced the changes late last week.
Writing on LinkedIn, Cruden said: “Friends of the Earth is moving to a four-day working week for full-time staff.
“Our working week is reducing from 35 to 30 hours as part of a wellbeing initiative that is also formalising our hybrid working arrangements.”
Cruden said that the organisation as a whole would still operate five-days a week but with most staff now working either Monday to Thursday or Tuesday to Friday.
The change was in line with Friends of the Earth’s values campaigning for “social and environmental justice”, he added.
Cruden wrote: “As people are more refreshed, they become more energised and focused in what they do – indeed, with greater staff wellbeing, their organisations are much better set to realise the true potential of both people and technology in terms of productivity, creativity and impact”
Friends of the Earth also hoped that greater flexibility for staff would mean “groups often excluded from the workplace or from career development are more able to access life-changing opportunities”.
Reports from a separate four-day week trial, involving charities the Royal Society of Biology, Waterwise and Scotland’s International Development Alliance, indicate that many organisations are likely to make the change permanent once the pilot period is over.