Morrisons scraps four-day week after staff complain about working one Saturday a month

Chain introduced four-day working weeks only for head office workers in Bradford in 2020

Morrisons has scrapped four-day working weeks after staff complained about working weekends.

The supermarket chain in 2020 introduced four-day working weeks only for head office workers in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

The employees’ weekly working hours dropped from 40 to 37.5 – but they were expected to then work one Saturday every four weeks, totalling 13 Saturdays each year.

Staff complained about the weekend work to the extent that Morrisons has now decided to end the scheme, according to The Grocer.

Consequently, 2,000 staff members will now work 37.5 hours over a four-and-a-half-day work-week.

The 4 Day Week Campaign said working 37.5 hours over four days is equivalent to working a full-time five-day week. Meanwhile, it said a true four-day week involves a reduction in hours to 32 or less with no loss of pay – which is the model used for the UK pilot scheme in 2022.

A Morrisons spokesperson said: “In recent years, our head office colleagues have worked a four-day week and then 13 Saturdays a year.

“The Saturdays have now been dropped following colleague feedback and we will work an extra half-day per week instead. The hours remain unchanged.”

Saturday working was implemented to provide head office workers with an opportunity to support the company’s 497 stores that operate on weekends.

This change comes a week after rival supermarket Asda introduced four-day working weeks to its business.

As part of a “case for change”, some Asda store managers will be offered a scheme that includes flexible working hours and shorter shifts.

Following a 2022 trial by 61 UK companies, which involved around 2,900 workers, 56 of the firms decided to continue with the four-day work week.

Joe Ryle, Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, said: “Morrisons’ four-day week experiment was an important first step but still quite a long way off a true four-day, 32-hour working week.

“Being required to work on Saturdays was never going to be popular and isn’t really a four-day week.

“However, we still welcome the reduction in hours from 40 hours to 37.5 hours a week.”