‘A five-hour work day is the only way I can still have a career'

Telegraph

14-05-2025

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Clare Leeks had a flourishing career in PR and marketing, which she left in 2013 to focus on starting a family.
While her children were small, she worked part time in a florist's, and then in a school, so she could still be available to take care of them. Returning to a corporate career was always in the back of her mind, but picking up where she left off didn't feel achievable – she wanted to continue working part time, but the roles she wanted just didn't exist.
'I realised very quickly after I had my son that I needed to work – I'm just not made to be a stay-at-home mum. The school and the florist were great, but I need career progression. I need to know where I'm going,' says Leeks, who is based in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire.
'Everywhere that I was applying for jobs, nobody would take me at the level that I had worked previously, because I'd come out and I'd done what I needed to do for my family.
'They'd say I didn't have the experience, even though I did – I just hadn't done it for 10 years.
'You're made to feel like you're either a failure or you're lying about your ability. I just needed someone to give me a chance.'
That chance finally came through Eco-g, a small sustainability consultancy which was hiring a chief operations officer – on a five-hour work day contract.
Leeks took on the role in January, and calls it a 'nigh-on perfect balance': a stimulating, rewarding career that still allows time for her children, now 12 and nine, plus a stepson, 16. She works from home, meeting her colleagues in London once a month. Her hours vary daily, but add up to 25 a week.
'My son recently transitioned to secondary school, and he sometimes has wobbles and needs to sit down and talk. I want to be available for my kids, because if they're not talking to me, then they're going to talk to someone else,' says Leeks.
'I'm incredibly thankful that I was able to get this job. Without it, I don't know what I'd be doing now – I'd probably still be working at the school.'
The demand for part-time work
The number of part-time workers in the UK has been steadily rising, up from 6.8 million in 2000 to 8.4 million in 2025, reflecting how more employers are becoming open to making roles like Leeks's part time.
However, demand is still massively outstripping supply, and it's leaving many potential part-time workers unable to work at all. There are currently 1.8 million people who are economically inactive – i.e., out of the workforce due to caring responsibilities or health issues – but want a job, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
It's unlikely people in these scenarios could commit to a 35-hour week, but fewer hours could be doable. However, suitable jobs can be scarce. According to 2022 figures from flexible working consultancy Timewise, of the 600,000 people in the UK that had been looking specifically for part-time work, 122,000 of them were not in work.
Could an office with a five-hour work day be the solution?
Amy Grilli, co-founder of the Five Hour Club jobs website – through which Eco-g hired Leeks – is convinced it's the answer for parents who want to work school hours without compromising their careers. In fact, 87pc of working parents want to work this way, according to a survey the organisation conducted of 2,572 parents from 64 countries in June 2024.
Since then, Five Hour Club has advertised and filled 128 roles with five-hour work days. Some of the most senior roles include a head of people and co-head of legal services. There are usually up to 20 such roles advertised on the site any given time. A chief executive, data analyst and director roles were available at the time of writing, and an NHS trust recently advertised two 'five-hour' roles.
'The current system of working nine to five, when the school day finishes at 3pm, simply doesn't work for families, and it's costing us talent, innovation and economic progress. With the lack of unaffordable or unavailable after-school care, parents – particularly women – are being left with no choice but to take roles below their skill level or to leave their careers altogether,' says Grilli, who's based in Folkestone.
She argues that a five-hour work day is more productive and less restrictive than a four-day week, which can be more stressful for people with caring commitments.
'I wasn't convinced a four-day week would work'
If senior lawyer Madison Thimont hadn't been able to secure part-time work in her field, her only other option would have been to continue working long full-time hours, and pay for wrap-around childcare for her children, aged five and three.
She felt she had to choose between the big career or time with her kids, and that she couldn't have both. Yet in March last year, she started a role as head of legal at data analytics company, Sagacity, working 10am to 3pm. She has since been promoted to general counsel – and spends the afternoons with her children.
'I was with my previous employer for seven years, and after I had my children, I trialled working four days. I considered doing four days permanently, but wasn't convinced it would work. There weren't many people in that company's legal team that did it, and my scope would have stayed the same – I would have just had to do it in four days,' says London-based Thimont.
'It's so lucky this has happened, because our life has totally changed. It's very fulfilling. I feel very happy. I feel like it helps mental health wise as well, because things are quite manageable.'
The five-hour work day format is also growing in popularity beyond working parents of young children. Katy Fridman, founder of Flexible Working People, recently interviewed someone in their 20s for a 20-hour a week credit control role, as he needed time to care for his unwell mother and her dog.
Meanwhile, Aled Nelmes, founder of Lumen SEO in Cardiff, announced on LinkedIn that the company would be shifting from a four-day week, to a 32-hour week, to be completed as the employee wishes, citing greater flexibility for people to work around whatever life stage they're in.
Making space for the sandwich generation
For Ruth Talbott, the desire for a shorter workday became less about juggling work with young children, but needing to factor in the growing demands of elderly parents, too.
An HR professional since 2003, she left her full-time group director level role in 2024 to find something that would give her time to support her mother-in-law and father, both in their 80s – without taking her career backwards. She works with Thimont at Sagacity, having started as head of HR in March, also on a five-hour work day.
'I am absolutely in the 'sandwich generation',' she says. 'Both my husband's and my siblings live far away, so all the immediate care falls to us. My mother-in-law and my father are starting to struggle with day to day things, and we also now need to organise outside care for my mother-in-law.
'My daughter's mid-way through her GCSEs and my son will phase into that soon. The thought of doing all that while working full-time is too much.'
Can the four-day week be beaten?
But making a five-hour day role work takes some planning. Leeks, Thimont and Talbott have all had to take pay cuts of around 35pc compared with a full-time role, which they acknowledge they are in a privileged position to afford to do.
Leeks's and Thimont's partners continue to work full-time in demanding senior roles, and, while Talbott's husband has also reduced his hours, she received a significant equity pay out from her previous role.
To stay on track with the workload, Thimont forgoes office coffees and lunches, and cuts internal work calls to 15 minutes. She's also about to hire a full-time contracts manager to help her support the 120-person business.
Over at Eco-g, the 'Monday' work planning platform is used to set out what tasks need doing. It can help to highlight instances where too many tasks are scheduled for the week, as all six people in the company work a five-hour day.
Gemma Bucknall, the company's founder and chief executive, set up Eco-g in this way after feeling disillusioned with the 'old-fashioned' ways companies are run. She plans to continue hiring people who want to work five-hour days, as she wants to support more people who need flexibility. However, she's realistic about what this means for how quickly her business can grow. 'I've not built this business to get rich,' Bucknall says.
So, is a five-hour day more realistic for businesses to introduce than a four-day week? Tatiana Pignon is head of workplace consultancy and research at the Autonomy Institute, which was at the centre of the four-day week campaign and pilot. She says it could be a good solution, but warns that shorter daily hours can be harder to keep to than a dedicated day off.
'This risks reinforcing existing inequalities, particularly if those with fewer outside responsibilities stay late or network after hours while others – often working parents, especially women – can't,' says Pignon.
'Or, if senior staff were opting for a shorter hour model, but weren't sticking to it, this can put pressure on other staff to also work longer than their official hours.
'We've also seen some evidence in our work that spreading reduced hours across five days may not deliver quite the same wellbeing or productivity gains as a four-day week, which could make it a less compelling option for organisations looking to fundamentally rethink the way they work.'