Companies across the UK have been trialling a four-day work week over the past six months, with employees enjoying longer weekends for the same pay. The idea’s gaining traction around the world, with union workers in America recently demanding it from automobile manufacturers.
But not everyone likes the idea. Local government minister Lee Rowley has demanded South Cambridgeshire District council put an end to their scheme and others think it will dent productivity and give workers minimal gain in their work life balance.
India Burgess from the think tank Autonomy answers your questions on the four-day week.
But not everyone likes the idea. Local government minister Lee Rowley has demanded South Cambridgeshire District council put an end to their scheme and others think it will dent productivity and give workers minimal gain in their work life balance.
India Burgess from the think tank Autonomy answers your questions on the four-day week.
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00:00 Hi, my name is India and I'm a researcher and consultant at the Think Tank Autonomy.
00:04 The Independent has asked for your questions about the four-day working week,
00:08 so let's take a look at what you've asked.
00:09 Tim asks, "Will companies be likely to try and keep the same work hours over the week?"
00:21 This is a question that we get fairly regularly,
00:24 and it's about whether there's real working time reduction for workers
00:29 or whether it's a compressed policy,
00:31 so where people work the same number of hours they would do,
00:34 37.5 hours or 40 hours, in fewer days.
00:38 And at Autonomy, we really advocate for a real reduction,
00:42 so a 10 to 20% reduction in working hours for no loss in pay for staff.
00:46 Ideally, this looks like between 28 and 32 hours a week.
00:50 Harry asks, "What is the optimum day to take the extra day off?
00:53 Monday, Friday, or a break in the middle?"
00:56 I mean, this is really personal preference.
00:59 A lot of people like having a Monday or a Friday off
01:01 because it gives them a three-day weekend,
01:04 but also taking a break off in the middle can be good for some people.
01:08 They like not ever working more than two days in a row,
01:11 or for those with caring responsibilities,
01:13 sometimes having a Wednesday off is better for childcare
01:16 or for any other care responsibilities.
01:19 Etienne asks, "I mainly read about experiences of implementing the four-day work weeks
01:24 in service sector companies or white-collar environments.
01:27 Were any attempts made for factory workers, restaurants, or the building sector?"
01:30 So, white-collar environments, as Etienne's asked,
01:34 are the most common area that we see four-day week trials happening,
01:39 but it's definitely not exclusively happening in those sectors.
01:41 So, for example, in the four-day week pilot that happened in 2022
01:47 that we released the results for in 2023,
01:51 we had a brewery, we had a fish and chip shop, a housing association,
01:55 and there are lots of examples of organisations in varying sectors
02:01 taking part in four-day week trials.
02:03 It's more challenging in some other sectors
02:05 than traditional kind of desk-based work,
02:08 but it's definitely not impossible,
02:10 and efficiencies can be found,
02:12 and investments in labour-saving technology
02:14 can be found in a lot of different environments.
02:16 Laura asks, "What are the most common benefits you've seen from a four-day work week?"
02:20 So, there are loads of different benefits
02:22 that we see from people moving to a four-day week.
02:26 For individuals, this can range from being happier, less stressed,
02:31 having a better work-life balance,
02:33 having more time to see family,
02:36 take up more hobbies, do volunteering, all of that sort of thing.
02:40 And your time off, you know, the ratio on a standard weekend,
02:45 to work week, you have five days working, two days off,
02:48 but on a four-day week, you have four days working, three days off,
02:51 which means that the time you have off
02:52 is nearly the same amount of time as you have working.
02:56 So, that ratio can be really quite game-changing.
02:59 And we also see benefits for employers as well.
03:03 If you've got a happier, healthier workforce,
03:05 then that's much better for your working environment.
03:08 We see productivity increasing, efficiencies being found,
03:13 and it can be a win-win all round.
03:15 Nicole says, "How has the four-day work week
03:17 affected companies' goals for efficiency and maximised productivity?"
03:21 So, efficiency and productivity are subjects that come up a lot
03:25 in relation to organisations moving to a four-day week,
03:28 particularly while organisations are doing it kind of voluntarily,
03:32 and therefore are trying to maintain exactly the same output as before,
03:36 but on reduced working hours.
03:38 So, productivity is a bit of a buzzword.
03:41 On a macroeconomic scale, it means something slightly different
03:44 to what it would mean in an organisation.
03:46 And organisations measure productivity in different ways
03:49 and often not really at all.
03:51 So, when we put it under a bit of scrutiny with businesses
03:55 or different organisations,
03:56 productivity often ends up just meaning financial performance
04:01 or meeting kind of quite vague key performance indicators or KPIs.
04:07 So, when they're actually getting into a trial,
04:09 often organisations end up focusing maybe on, yeah,
04:13 revenue, financial performance,
04:15 and then also on things like staff wellbeing,
04:18 rather than trying to measure a very strict form of productivity.
04:22 Efficiency is quite important when organisations are voluntarily
04:25 moving to a four-day week to help find time savings
04:29 and enable that same output level on reduced times.
04:35 And efficiencies can come from all sorts of areas of an organisation.
04:39 This could be meetings culture, reducing bureaucracy,
04:43 analysing targets and reducing time spent on different activities.
04:47 Even things like, you know, in one case study we saw
04:51 for this housing association that we worked with in the UK pilot,
04:55 that their repair team did more forward planning
04:59 on when they needed to go to a trade centre and buy new supplies, etc.
05:03 And that just saved a certain number of hours a week of driving
05:06 that they no longer had to do.
05:07 Tio asks, "What can I say to the company I work at
05:10 that will incentivise them to adopt the four-day week?"
05:12 Great question.
05:14 We really encourage employees to be raising the four-day week
05:17 as a topic of discussion with their employers.
05:20 And in terms of what you can do and talk about to help make this happen,
05:24 first of all, I would recommend putting together a bit of a document
05:28 with why you think it would be a good idea,
05:31 case studies and evidence supporting your argument.
05:34 I would also talk to your colleagues about it,
05:36 get your colleagues to sign a petition or get signatures on this case
05:40 and take that to management.
05:42 Alternatively, you could go through your trade union
05:44 and we're seeing a lot of examples of organisations
05:46 considering moving to a four-day week because of union asks.
05:50 And the four-day week campaign UK has a lot of great resources on this
05:54 for employees to take to their employers.
05:57 Thank you for your questions about the four-day working week.
06:00 You can watch more episodes of You Asked the Questions at Independent TV.
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