Market Loop - UK launches four-day work week trial

WORK
UK launches four-day work week trial

What’s going on?
30 British companies are taking part in a six month pilot scheme that will see staff work the for the same pay but over four days instead of five.

Why is this important?

A hundred years ago the standard work week moved from six days to five and in recent years momentum has been building  to take this down to four.

Yesterday 30 companies begun a trial to test whether paying their workers 100% pay for 80% of the time will maintain at least 100% productivity. 

The scheme is being organised by 4 Day Week Global, a not-for-profit established for like-minded people who are interested in supporting the idea of the four day work week as a part of the future of work.

Supporters of a shorter week claim that it will improve workforce productivity, work-life balance and wellbeing.

Iceland carried out the world’s largest four day working week trial between 2015 and 2019 with researchers calling it an 'overwhelming success'.

In 2019, Microsoft Japan tried a four-day week for a month and found that productivity rose by 40% with workers reporting being happier and taking less time off.

But critics argue that the format will increase the pressure to squeeze more work into fewer hours. It’s also trickier to implement in some areas such as customer facing jobs and 24/7 operations like the NHS.
 

GAMING
Microsoft’s record $70bn gaming takeover

Microsoft has gone turbo into video gaming. Yesterday the software giant announced the whopping $69bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the maker of popular games like ‘Call of Duty’, ‘World of Warcraft’ and ‘Candy Crush’.

It’s the largest gaming takeover in history and Microsoft’s biggest deal ever, dwarfing its $26bn acquisition of LinkedIn in 2016.

So what’s the rationale? Activision’s 390m monthly users will boost Microsoft’s gaming business across mobile, PC and consoles.

But Activision’s major appeal is that it gives Microsoft the building blocks for the metaverse – where the physical and digital worlds collide and the next frontier for the Internet. Anyone who’s anyone has announced plans to step into this arena in the past year.

Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, Disney and even supermarket Walmart have grand ambitions for their own gaming and metaverse initiatives.

The Xbox maker also has its eyes set on Japan’s Sony and China’s Tencent – the two biggest gaming console producers. The Activision deal makes Microsoft number three.

The deal comes following a turbulent time for Activision. There have been high profile allegations of harassment, abuse and generally bad corporate culture.

The merger is expected to complete in 2023. The size will mean it’s likely to face scrutiny from competition watchdogs in the US and Europe before it's finalised.