The world’s largest-ever trial of a ‘four-day’ working week in Iceland has been deemed an ‘overwhelming success’ as researchers call for it to be tested in the UK. Workers were less stressed and had a better work-life balance while bosses saw no significant drop-off in productivity or provision of services, analysts said As a result of the experiment, which ran from 2015 to 2019, some 86 per cent of Icelandic workers have now negotiated contracts with permanently shortened hours. Iceland’s four-year experiment with a ‘four-day working week’ has been dubbed an ‘overwhelming success’ by researchers who want the model adopted elsewhere (file) Will Stronge, director of research at British think tank Autonomy, said: ‘This study shows that the world’s largest ever trial of a shorter working week in the public sector was by all measures an overwhelming success. ‘It shows that the public sector is ripe for being a pioneer of shorter working weeks – and lessons can be learned for other governments.’ The Icelandic experiment involved two separate trials that initially included just a few dozen public sector workers who were members of unions. But, as the trial progressed, it expanded to include 2,500 workers in both public and…