Latest news with #4DayWeekFoundation
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Do you support the idea of a four-day working week? Have your say
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 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. Read more of Yahoo UK's Poll of the Week articles
BBC News
20-02-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Lincoln firm moving to four-day week 'to attract the best staff'
A business based in Lincoln is among the latest to offer a four-day working week because it hopes to attract the most talented staff in a competitive Robinson, who runs Almond Financial compared the benefits to "semi-retirement".Last month, the 4 Day Week Foundation said more than 200 companies nationwide had committed to the idea, which it argued would increase another business in the city, Bells' Tea Shop, said a shorter working week would require it to hire more staff and increase the wage bill. Mr Robinson, 39, said employees at the financial advice firm would work Monday to Thursday, from 09:00 to 17:00, without a reduction in pay."In the really competitive market that we're in, it's very hard to recruit and we want to make sure that we're standing out from the crowd," he added. "And a happy workforce is a great workforce."The move followed a review of a four-and-a-half-day week, which Almond Financial had been operating for three Robinson said the business had implemented new processes and spent time managing clients' expectations about working patterns. The 4 Day Week Foundation has long campaigned for change, having claimed that a five-day week is outdated and no longer fit for Ryle, from the foundation, described the change as a "win win" for employees and employers, with staff enjoying more leisure time and companies benefiting from greater productivity and fewer sickness absences. Last week, more than a dozen MPs called for ministers to consider the idea as part of a new set of rules on workers' rights, though a government spokesperson said there were no plans to do so."A four-day, 32-hour working week is the future of work," the Labour MP Peter Dowd every business owner is convinced it would work for them. Nicola Lockwood, who owns Bells' Tea Shop, said the idea was good in theory, but she would have to take on more staff to cover opening hours, which would have a "massive" impact on her wage bill. "We'd all like to work less for the same amount of money," she said. "But ultimately, prices would have to go up."Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
The Independent
12-02-2025
- Business
- The Independent
To all those Labour MPs calling for a four-day week – whatever happened to growth?
If a four-day week is such a good idea, it will happen, because employers will adopt it. Advocates claim that it makes workers more productive, but in that case why does it need an act of parliament to promote it? The 12 Labour MPs (and one Green) who propose an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill are engaged in gesture politics, it would seem. It is a well-meaning gesture, aiming to improve working life for employees, but it is a mistaken one. Some of the arguments for a four-day week are confused. Peter Dowd, the Labour MP who drafted the amendment, says it is needed because artificial intelligence will reduce employment – the latest version of the fear that robots will take our jobs that has haunted people since the Industrial Revolution. Most recently, this kind of millenarianism took the form of advocating a universal basic income because automation would replace human work – yet recent decades have seen hardly any change in average weekly hours worked. The amendment's sponsors would be better off sticking to the argument that a four-day week would make us better off, but unless they genuinely believe that it is a magic productivity -enhancer that 99 per cent of Britain's employers have somehow overlooked, they look as if they are arguing that a shorter hours are more important than economic growth. Unless the case for a four-day week is overwhelming, Labour MPs ought to be careful about contradicting their party's supposedly single-minded focus on growth. And the case is far from overwhelming. The 4 Day Week Foundation, a pressure group, says that 200 companies across the UK representing 5,000 workers have permanently reduced workers' hours to 32 or less per week. But that is a tiny fraction of the economy, and the MPs who are pushing the amendment tend to make vague claims for the policy. A reduced working week 'can have positive benefits for the workplace and for the wellbeing of workers', says Bell Ribeiro-Addy, one of the Labour sponsors. But 'can' is not good enough. She needs evidence that workers are more productive – and that the increase in productivity more than pays for the reduction in hours. It was telling that Maya Ellis, another Labour MP supporting the amendment, gives the example of 'public organisations', claiming that a four-day week would result in an 'increase in capacity we so desperately need to see in our public services'. Given that four-day weeks are so rare in the private sector, Ellis and Ribeiro-Addy risk sounding as if they are advocating a cushy number for people employed by the taxpayer. It does not help that the best-known example of a four-day week is the deal secured by Aslef, the train drivers' union, in what is in effect a public-sector industry. The union is now demanding the same for London tube drivers, in what is definitely the public sector. That is why I thought it was unwise for Angela Rayner, the minister responsible for the Employment Rights Bill, to reverse the Conservative government's objection to South Cambridgeshire district council moving to a four-day week. Of course, it is up to local councils to manage their employees as they see fit, subject to their accountability to local voters, but there is a danger that the scheme will be seen as a perk for public-sector workers only. I think Rayner is political enough to see that danger, and so there is no chance that the amendment to her Employment Rights Bill will pass. But it still leaves her promoting a bill that will add significantly to burdens on employers. The government's own impact assessment says that the additional costs of what the prime minister today boasted was the 'biggest upgrade in workers' rights in a generation' would be in the 'low billions per year'. We should be grateful that Rayner is unlikely to pursue some of the wilder dreams of labour market utopians, but she should look again at her Employment Rights Bill, which is already at odds with her government's claim to put growth first.
The Independent
12-02-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Labour rebels push for four-day week in employment rights drive
A group of Labour rebels are pushing for Angela Rayner to adopt a four-day working week in her employment rights bill. More than a dozen Labour MPs, and one Green MP, have challenged the deputy prime minister to commit to exploring a transition 'across the economy' from five working days to four - with no reduction in pay. Flexible working campaigners have welcomed Ms Rayner's employment rights bill, which will give workers greater access to flexible hours as well as stronger day one employment protections and banning fire and rehire. But the rebel group of Labour MPs, which includes former shadow ministers Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Rachael Maskell and Richard Burgon, has said the bill does not go far enough as it only allows workers to compress their hours rather than reducing them altogether. Compressed hours can include where workers complete the same number of hours over fewer days, but the 4 Day Week Foundation has argued moving from 40 to 32 hours per week is crucial for improving work-life balance and upholding productivity. Ms Ribeiro-Addy told The Independent: 'We've seen from numerous trials across the UK that a reduced working week with no loss of pay can have positive benefits for the workplace and for the well-being of workers, but it can also have wider benefits for the economy, environment and gender equality.' The group pushing for the four-day week also includes Imran Hussain, who played a leading role developing the employment rights bill under Sir Keir Starmer in opposition. They cited figures from the 4 Day Week Foundation which show more than 200 companies across the UK representing 5,000 workers have permanently reduced workers' hours to 32 or less per week after trialing the change. Meanwhile research by Barclays Bank found British workers have missed out on a reduction in hours happening across Europe, with those in Britain now working 27 per cent more hours on average than Germany. Labour MP Peter Dowd, who proposed the amendment, said: 'The benefits of greater productivity in the economy as a result of new technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) must be passed back to workers in more free leisure time. 'A four-day, 32 hour working week is the future of work and I urge my party to back this amendment so we can begin a much wider transition.' And Maya Ellis, who is backing the calls, said public sector bodies are more productive when working four-day weeks, calling on Labour to 'be brave enough' to implement the change. The Labour MP said: 'Data shows that working four days leads to greater productivity than five. That means in public organisations for example, that we can get through a higher volume of tasks, creating the increase in capacity we so desperately need to see in our public services. 'I hope our government can be brave enough to take the first steps now, in what I believe will one day be considered the norm.' Deputy PM Ms Rayner, the driving force behind the employment rights bill, has previously said a four-day week is 'no threat to the economy'. Other cabinet ministers believed to be open-minded on the idea include business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, energy secretary Ed Miliband and work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall. The idea was also a flagship Labour policy under Jeremy Corbyn, with a pledge to reduce average weekly hours to 32 within a decade with no loss of pay. But, responding to the amendment, a government spokesperson said there were 'no plans to mandate a four-day work week for five days' pay - not in government nor in any other sector'. The spokesperson added: 'We are strengthening workers' rights to request flexibility in their working pattern which is different to this and organisations will still be able to reject unworkable requests if it doesn't work for the business or organisation.'
The Independent
11-02-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Labour MPs call for the government to support a four-day working week
More than a dozen MPs are pushing for the government to include consideration for a four-day working week as part of a new set of workers rights rules. The MPs, 12 Labour and one Green, have called for the Government to set up a body to look into bringing in a four-day week across the economy. The group is calling for an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill, which proposes new workers rights such as flexible working and a ban on zero-hours contracts. Peter Dowd, the Labour MP who put forward the amendment, said that with things like artificial intelligence enabling people to work more efficiently, the benefits 'must be passed back to workers'. 'A four-day, 32-hour working week is the future of work and I urge my party to back this amendment so we can begin a much wider transition.' Maya Ellis, Labour MP for Ribble Valley, said: 'Data shows that working four days leads to greater productivity than five. 'That means in public organisations for example, that we can get through a higher volume of tasks, creating the increase in capacity we so desperately need to see in our public services.' A four-day working week with no loss of pay is becoming more popular in the UK. More than 200 companies in January confirmed they had made the switch to the shortened work pattern permanently. The majority of the companies said their employees work 32 hours a week or less over the course of a week. Proponents of the new working pattern say people are happier and less likely to suffer from burnout when they work fewer days. The amendment points to the growing popularity of less onerous working patterns but comes at a time when large corporations are forcing their employees to return to the office full-time. US investment bank JP Morgan and tech giant Amazon have demanded staff come back to the office every day despite having allowed hybrid working patterns for the last five years since the Covid-19 pandemic. And former Asda and Marks & Spencer chief executive Lord Stuart Rose claimed earlier in January that remote working does not amount to 'proper work'. The 4 Day Week Foundation's campaign, by contrast, aims to promote people's wellbeing over hours spent at work. Joe Ryle, campaign director of the 4 Day Week Foundation, said: 'Compressing the same amount of hours into four days rather than five is not the same thing as a true four-day working week. 'What is missing from the Bill is a commitment to explore a genuinely shorter working week which we know workers desperately want. 'As hundreds of British companies and one local council have already shown, a four-day week with no loss of pay can be a win-win for both workers and employers.' A spokesman for 10 Downing Street said the Government had no plans to change its workers' rights package, adding: 'In general terms, it is not Government policy to support a general move to a four-day week for five days' worth of pay.'
