College Employers Scotland (CES), the national body for colleges as employers, is to consider lessons from a pioneering college trial that has restructured working time and may be made permanent.  

The West Lothian College scheme, which was opened to all support staff and managers, has allowed individuals to “compress” their weekly hours into fewer days.  

Positive survey outcomes – including indications of improved employee wellbeing and service quality – have already encouraged senior leaders to look at how they might continue and expand the arrangement.

Now, CES will carefully examine the results of the trial, potentially paving the way for other colleges to investigate the possible benefits of this type of flexible working for their own staff.

Under West Lothian College’s scheme, staff were offered the chance to switch to compressed hours, with the new work pattern launching in March last year. Initially due to run for six months, it was later extended to 31 August 2025.

Employees were advised that contracted hours, while remaining unchanged, could be worked over fewer days. For full-time staff, this meant working 35 hours over four days or 70 hours over nine (a compressed fortnight).  

Survey data suggests that the trial’s impact has been overwhelmingly positive.

Ninety-two per cent of survey respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the experience of taking part, and 96% wanted the scheme to continue.

Significantly, 96% also reported an improvement in work-life balance, while a clear majority said quality had been maintained or increased in areas such as team delivery, collaboration, and cross-college working.

Jackie Galbraith, West Lothian College Principal, said:

“We want to make work better for our employees and we regularly seek feedback from staff on how to do that.

“In our 2023 staff survey we were asked to offer a compressed working week to support a better work-life balance. Since we introduced this a few months later we have had very enthusiastic take-up from a wide range of staff.

“Our latest annual staff survey demonstrated the positive impact of compressed working hours, and I have no doubt we will continue to offer this as part of our suite of flexible working options.”

Gavin Donoghue, CES Director, said:

“The compressed hours trial at West Lothian College is a strong example of how colleges right across Scotland are acting as Fair Work employers and innovating to enhance staff wellbeing.

“CES will now consider the positive outcomes from this pilot so that other individual colleges can explore if this might benefit them and their employees.

“Scotland’s colleges already provide innovative, healthy and sustainable working conditions for their employees so that students receive the world-class education they deserve.”