U.K. Fintech Startup Moves to Four-Day Work Week Without Cutting Pay

(Bloomberg) -- Atom Bank has moved to a four-day working week, one of the most dramatic flexible working policies introduced by a finance firm since the pandemic upended office norms.

The U.K. fintech, which has 430 employees, moved to a four-day week on Nov. 1, the digital lender said in a statement Tuesday. Contractual working hours will be reduced by 3.5 hours to 34 hours per week, with no change in salary. 

Mondays or Fridays are expected to be the default day off for the majority of employees, except for those working in operational and service roles whose day out of the office may vary, to ensure customer service levels.

“While we appreciate a four-day working week will not be right for all workplaces, the move to working from home has proved that working practices that may have seemed years away can be introduced rapidly,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Mullen said in a statement.  “We firmly believe that this will prove beneficial for our employees’ wellbeing and happiness and that it will have an equally positive impact on business productivity and customer experience.”

Read more about finance’s return to the office

Atom Bank was the U.K.’s first mobile-based lender when it opened in April 2016. It offers savings accounts, mortgages and business lending and had 2.7 billion pounds ($3.6 billion) of total lending assets under management at the end of March, according to its annual report. The bank reported it first full quarter of operating profit in the three months to September with business lending growing 16% to 879 million pounds.

Other lenders are also moving away from traditional ways of working. Banks like HSBC Holdings Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc are cutting office space as they let employees work some of their time from home. 

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