The Debate: Should workers have the right to a four-day week?
Morning Wire’s weekly feature takes the fiercest water-cooler debates and pits two candidates head to head before delivering The Judge’s ultimate verdict.
Yes: Trials have shown that a four-day week is a win-win
The government’s announcement last week to strengthen flexible working legislation is a welcome move which recognises that the future of work we are heading for is a four-day week for all. However, these proposals would only allow workers to compress their working hours rather than reduce them which we have found is key for improving work-life balance and also maintaining productivity.
Flexible working is important but it is not the full answer and compressed hours are not really a four-day week. In 2022, we organised the world’s biggest ever trial of a true four-day week, with hours reduced and pay levels maintained. The trial was a win-win for both workers and employers. Some 71 per cent of employees reported lower levels of burnout and levels of anxiety, fatigue and sleep issues fell, while mental and physical health both improved. For the companies taking part, productivity and business performance remained the same or improved, the number of sick days taken were reduced and there were dramatic improvements in job recruitment and retention.
It’s been 100 years since we moved from a six-day week to a five-day week. Technology has progressed in unimaginable ways these past few decades, enabling huge efficiencies in the workplace. The reality is that a four-day week is long overdue. But we need the full thing, not a compressed version, and with it a rethink of the future of work itself to one which prioritises a proper work-life balance, and sees this as part of, not separate to, economic success.
Saskia Wootton-Cane is a member of the 4 Day Week Campaign
No: A better work-life balance doesn’t necessarily equate to fewer working days
A four-day working week may, for some, seem like a panacea to the UK’s productivity issue. But the realities of enshrining this in law could present significant challenges and pressures for employees and employers.
Employees already have the right to request flexible working, including condensed and flexible hours. So, it’s unclear what additional rights employees will have, and how this will work in practice.
It appears the government’s proposal is that the four-day week would come in the form of “compressed hours”, where an employee is allowed to work their regular hours over four days instead of five.
The reality is a four-day week does not work for every business model and likewise does not work for every employee. There are those that need flexibility throughout the working week, such as those needing daily flexibility to organise work around childcare, school runs or regular care commitments for elderly relatives.
But a better work-life balance doesn’t necessarily equate to working fewer days. Rather, it’s about employers flexing to the specific needs of the employee within the constraints of what the business needs to serve its customers. Squeezing five days’ work into four may not achieve that better than the current system of flexible work requests tailored to employees’ needs.
On top of this, employers must be mindful of their duty of care towards workers – overburdening them with work could lead to physical and mental health issues, as seen in some trials, with employees so exhausted that businesses chose not to continue with the initiative.
Ultimately, the four-day week is often hailed as the holy grail – but the reality can land far from it. What’s important is that employers support employees’ rights to flexible work in a way that supports the business, its customers and accommodates the employee’s needs too. There’s no need for a law granting a blanket ‘yes’ to the four-day week.
Scott Walker is CEO of Brightmine
The Verdict: Look at the data
The four-day week. Would you want one? It might seem insane, but as Wootton-Cane points out there was a time but a century ago when the six-day working week was the norm. As she says, technology has improved efficiency in many areas – so surely we can now reduce our workload?
Well, that’s not necessarily the choice that’s on the table. Labour’s legislation takes the form of “compressed hours”, meaning the same number of hours of work done in fewer days. And – as both contestants have flagged – compressing a week’s hours from five days to four is not attractive to everyone. But it’s not like the new legislation would command this, just make it far harder for an employer to block it if requested. It does seem strange, then, as Walker points out, to prioritise the four-day compressed week above any other employee benefit that might be more suitable.
That said, Wootton-Cane has the advantage of data on her side. The trial she mentioned is convincing: in 2022 61 firms and nearly 3,000 employees took part with the vast majority of companies continuing the policy on. That’s a verdict in itself that’s hard to argue with.