Are we Moving Closer to a Four-Day Work Week?

The four-day week has been a hot topic for businesses and employees across the country for years, particularly since COVID-19 changed the landscape of flexible working. The conversation around the topic has increased in the last few days, with Labour set to announce new legislation that would allow employees to request flexible working from day-one, including the option to work over 4 days rather than the traditional 5. 

How does a four-day week work? 

There’s little we know so far about the Governments plans, but we do know that they don’t plan to enforce a 4-day week on all businesses. 

The new way of working could come in the form of compressed hours, where employees could work longer hours on fewer days. This would be part of the Government’s plan to introduce the legislation that allows every employee the right to request flexible working from their first day in a new role, unless they’re in a role where this would be “not reasonably feasible”. 

Speaking to LBC, Minister of State in the Department for Education Baroness Jacqui Smith gave some clarity on what it could look like, and how it may work: “The four-day week that I know is on the front of quite a lot of newspapers today, what we’re actually talking about there is the type of flexible working that enables you to use compressed hours.” 

“So perhaps instead of working eight hours a day for five days, you work 10 hours a day for four days.” 

“You’re still doing the same amount of work, but perhaps you’re doing it in a way that enables you, for example, to need less childcare, to spend more time with your family, to do other things, that encourages more people into the workplace.” 

Details about the approach will be announced by the Department for Business and Trade within the next 100 days. 

What are the benefits of a four-day work week? 

The four-day week isn’t a completely new thing. In fact, countries around the world have been trialing the four-day week to discover the positives and negatives. One of these countries was the UK, with a 6-month pilot taking place in 2022. Interestingly, most of these companies (89%) were still operating with the policy at the start of August, and 51% made the policy permanent. 

There are a range of benefits shown from these trials, with employers pointing to: 

• Positive staff wellbeing 
• Reduced staff turnover 
• Increase in productivity  
• Improved job recruitment 

Juliet Schor, professor of sociology at Boston College, had said the results showed “real and long lasting” effects. “Physical and mental health, and work-life balance are significantly better than at six months. Burnout and life satisfaction improvements held steady,” 

It’s worth noting that this trial was based around staff reducing their hours, but completing the same amount of work, which is different to what is being proposed by the Labour Government. 

What other countries have a four-day work week? 

There have been a number of countries trialling this new way of working over the last few years. Belgium went further than a trial, becoming the first country in Europe to legislate for a 4-day working week.  

Belgium employees won the right to complete a full work week in four days rather than 5 without a loss of salary in February 2022, with the law coming into effect on November 21st last year which allowed employees to choose to work either 4 or 5 days. In Belgium, they condense their hours into fewer days – the same model the UK will likely be working with. 

The United Arab Emirates allows all government employees to work a four-day week, a rule that has been in place since 1st July 2023. While not everyone is eligible for this, 90% of the UAE’s workforce is employed by the government, so most people will be able to have this flexibility. 

With just 350,000 people living there, Iceland has the most people working a 4-day week in the world. This comes after the country ran one of the biggest and longest trials of the workweek between 2015 – 2019. 

Other countries that have trialed the system include: 

• United States 
• Spain 
• South Africa/Botswana 
• Japan 
• Canada 
• Portugal 
• Brazil 
  

When will the four-day week be in place? 

There is currently no date set in place for these new flexible working rules, but it’s understood that Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is behind the move and is setting her sights on introducing legislation on it this Autumn after consulting with unions and businesses.  

So, it looks like within the next few months the scope of flexible working will change again, with employees being offered more options for work-life balance. 

An additional day at home will allow you to keep up with childcare, housework, or tasks you’ve been putting off, but it will also allow you the opportunity to spend more time on upskilling with online learning.  

Take advantage of a flexible way of working by developing your skills from home, allowing you to stay ahead in a consistently evolving job market. 

Explore our range of courses today in our online qualifications hub.