Four-day week: Which countries have embraced it and how’s it going so far?

Conversations around the four-day workweek have been reignited by the COVID-19 pandemic, with
workers and employers rethinking the importance of workplace flexibility and benefits. The idea is
simple – employees would work four days a week while getting paid the same and earning the same
benefits, but with the same workload. Companies reducing their workweek would therefore operate
with fewer meetings and more independent work.
Hailed as* the future of employee productivity and work-life balance, advocates for the four-day
workweek suggest that when implemented*, worker satisfaction increases, and so does productivity.
Trade unions across Europe are calling for governments to implement the four-day working week,
but which countries have embraced the idea and how is it going so far?
[…]
Companies in the UK who have run a six-month trial* of the four-day workweek are now planning on
making the shorter workweek permanent, after hailing the experiment as "extremely successful".
Dozens of companies have been involved in the six-month pilot programme - the biggest of its kind -
which was launched on June 6 to study the impact of shorter working hours on businesses’
productivity and the well-being of their workers, as well as the impact on the environment and
gender equality.
Some 70 UK companies and more than 3,300 employees signed up for the programme, run by
researchers at Cambridge and Oxford Universities and Boston College, as well as the non-profit
advocacy groups 4 Day Week Global, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign and the UK think tank Autonomy.
A large majority - some 86 per cent - of the companies which took part in the trial said they were
"extremely likely" or "likely" to consider keeping the four-day week policy after the trial period,
according to a survey that saw the participation of 41 out of the 70 organisations trialing the shorter
workweek.

Vocabulary
*hailed as = salué comme
Implemented = mis en oeuvre
To start (by + V-ing) = commencer (par
Trial = essai
+ verbe)
To go on = to continue
By Josephine Joly & Luke Hurst
To explain (= expliquer)
Updated: 24/01/2023
To highlight = to stress
Source: euronews.com (abridged)
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First / second / third /finally
Part 1: Present the document. Use the following hints: And then = ensuite
However = cependant
1) Nature, date, source, topic On the one hand (= d’un côté)
2) Structure, main points developed by the author On the other hand (= d’un autre côté)
3) Aim/Point of view Therefore = consequently

Part 2: Get ready to answer your teacher’s questions.