Walkers Transport offers four-day working week to combat driver shortage crisis

Walkers Transport has launched the first four-day working week ever recorded in the logistics industry.

The Palletways member, which has depots in Leeds, Manchester and Fradley, is making a four-day Monday to Friday working week available to its drivers, who have the choice of continuing to work a base of five days a week or moving to the new four-day system.

Dubbed 'Walkers Balance', the initiative aims to offer flexible working patterns to suit employee lifestyles. The scheme will also continue to offer Walkers’ Elite Driver rewards, which allows drivers to earn an extra £4,000 a year on top of their salary. Other benefits include a BUPA medical scheme, 23 holiday days and, with the four-day week, an additional 52 non-working days a year.

The scheme also aims to incentivise drivers to earn more depending on the hours they work, with a higher hourly rate paid on the four-day arrangement.

Group operations director, Scott Hobman said the firm’s new employment programme is a landmark moment in the logistics industry.

He said: “Walkers Balance takes us away from the industry norm and focuses on the importance of a balanced lifestyle for our employees. This new approach will allow drivers to spend more time with friends and family to do things that they enjoy, naturally leading to an improvement in wellbeing.

“As you can imagine this is a huge investment for the company and we need to ensure that it not only benefits employees, but also the business through improvements in absenteeism, morale, performance, and retention.

“We are really excited about this and believe it will make a significant difference to working at Walkers Transport.”