Do you support the idea of a four-day working week? Have your say

Yahoo

22-04-2025

Yahoo UK's poll of the week lets you vote and indicate your strength of feeling on one of the week's hot topics. After the poll closes, we'll publish and analyse the results each Friday, giving readers the chance to see how polarising a topic has become and if their view chimes with other Yahoo UK readers.
Those wondering what it'd be like to work a four-day working week are having a little taste of it thanks to the Easter bank holiday weekend.
Good Friday last week and Easter Monday has effectively meant many in the UK are enjoying two four-day weeks in a row.
After an opportunity to rest, catch up on life admin, or spend quality time with friends and family, are you feeling more rested at work this week?
Work-related burnout is on the rise across the world, to the extent where the World Health Organisation has described it as an occupational phenomenon "resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed".
Many believe a four-day working week could be the answer to this problem, with a 2022 trial of 61 companies in the UK finding employee burnout decreased by 71%, while productivity remained stable or improved.
This Bank Holiday, watch how the Sunday Scaries don't turn into the Monday Scaries.When you've had enough time to rest, and the week ahead is a manageable length, anxieties like that have no place to take root.
— 4 Day Week Foundation (@4Day_Week) April 21, 2025
Recent figures from the 4 Day Week Foundation found that more than 200 UK companies have made the permanent switch to a four-day working week with no loss of pay.
While many might instinctively think that fewer days of work would mean lower productivity, the non-profit organisation's campaign director, Joe Ryle, argues that by prioritising wellbeing, quality of life and mental health, some workers can actually get more done.
'A four-day week gives people the freedom to live happier, more fulfilling lives," he said, claiming the five-day working week model was 'invented 100 years ago and is no longer fit for purpose'.
While the Labour government has said it supports flexible working - which could allow workers to "compress" their normal hours into four days - it has stopped short of supporting a four-day week. (In November, in fact, pensions minister Emma Reynolds dismissed requests by civil servants for a four-day working week, saying: "We are not living in the 1970s.")
So what are some of the potential drawbacks? According to academics from the University of Surrey writing in The Conversation, compressed hours can potentially lead to greater stress. "There is strong evidence that longer work hours result in more errors and accidents. Long work hours are also linked to poorer decision-making and make it more likely people will have an accident on their drive home," they write.
There is also concern that compressed hours leads to "compressed sleep" - in which workers "accentuate" irregular sleep habits to accommodate a four-day week, with negative impacts on their health.
But what do you think? Is a four-day working week realistic, and do you support the idea? Let us know in the polls below:
Do you think a four-day working week would make you more productive at work? Is your workplace already trying it out? Or would it be unworkable in your industry?
Come back on Friday to read the results and analysis via the link below.
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