The pros and cons of a four-day working week
Think-tank says shift in working patterns could help alleviate the cost-of-living crisis
A four-day week with no loss of pay could help ease the cost-of-living crisis by slashing workers’ childcare and commuting costs, a left-wing think-tank has argued.
Independent research organisation Autonomy calculated that a worker with a child aged under two would save £1,440 year in childcare on average, and £340 on travel if they cut their weekly commutes by a day. Director of research Will Stronge told The Guardian that a four-day week “could play a crucial role in supporting workers to make ends meet” with UK inflation at a 40-year high.
Stronge also argued that a shorter working week could boost productivity and the “wellbeing of workers”. But while more than 3,300 staff at 70 UK companies are working four-day weeks after signing up for a six-month trial, launched in June, critics claim the shift could have various costs.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
1. Pro: greater productivity
The UK trial currently taking place has indicated that productivity can actually be improved when staff work fewer hours.
At the halfway point of the trial, 41 of the 73 companies taking part responded to a survey. “The majority of firms said it is working well for their business, while 95% said productivity had stayed the same or improved during the shorter week,” said the BBC.
More than four-fifths of the companies who responded “said they would keep the four-day week policy going after the trial ends”, the broadcaster added.
This backs up a finding in 2019. Back then Microsoft Japan gave its 2,300-strong workforce five Fridays off in a row without cutting pay and found that productivity “increased by 39.9% compared with August 2018”, Business Insider reported.
2. Con: longer hours
Some employers have questioned whether certain roles can realistically be performed over just four days per week. The Wellcome Trust ditched plans in 2019 to trial a four-day week for the research foundation’s 800 staff on the grounds that it would be too “operationally complex”.
“In reality,” said Breathe on the HR platform’s blog, “most employees on a four-day week will most likely be expected to work the same 40-hour weeks, but in four days instead of five”. And extending shifts “could have a significant effect on your employees’ stress levels and therefore their overall well-being and productivity”.
3. Pro: better for childcare
Research carried out this year by parenting organisations Pregnant Then Screwed and Mumsnet found that “43% of mums said the cost of childcare has made them consider leaving their job and 40% said they have had to work fewer hours than they would like because of childcare costs”.
In the survey of almost 27,000 parents, more than 60% said childcare costs are now as much or more than their rent or mortgage payments.
A four-day week could allow for fairer sharing of childcare between men and women. Parents of young children won’t have to pay for so many hours of childcare and, according to Female First, they would be able to “spend more quality time with their kids”.
4. Con: team management
Line managers sometimes find that managing multiple teams on a four-day work week can be challenging “because the days employees take off are scattered, making it hard to set up team meetings and manage projects,” said a report for The Adecco Group.
There will be “knock-on effects on the rest of the team if everyone is just shifting their meeting times to one less day a week, or worse, if people are taking different days off from each other,” Constance Hadley, a Questrom School of Business lecturer in management and organisations, told BU Today.
5. Pro: cut carbon footprint
Countries with shorter working hours typically “have a smaller carbon footprint”, said Change, because trimming the working week means that workers don’t need to commute as much and large office buildings are only in use four days a week.
More than half of UK workers drive themselves to work. But research carried out by the University of Reading in 2019 found that working four days a week instead of five “could decrease the number of miles driven by employees travelling to work by 558 million each week”, Forbes reported.
Overall, the site suggested, a four-day week “could shrink the U.K.’s carbon footprint by 127 million tonnes per year by 2025”, which would represent “a reduction of 21.3% from 2020”.
6. Con: only short-term gain
“It’s true that employees who worked four days a week were happier with their autonomy, personal worth and job security than those who worked a five-day work week,” said People Hum, “but when employees were polled again after 25 months, nearly all admitted that the improvements had vanished.”
If an organisation introduces the four-day working week, employee morale will undoubtedly rise, it added, but levels of morale will “gradually return to pre-4-day workweek levels after the ‘newness’ wears off”.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What is rock flour and how can it help to fight climate change?
The Explainer Glacier dust to the rescue
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Crossword: April 19, 2024
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
In what states is abortion legal, illegal, and in limbo?
In The Spotlight Where American states stand on abortion care
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
The birth of the weekend: how workers won two days off
The Explainer Since the 1960s, there has been talk of a four-day-week, and post-pandemic work patterns have strengthened those calls
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
2023: the year of rising child labor
The Explainer Because of a tight job market, some employers broke rules to find cheap child labor
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The nightmare before Christmas: is the party over for the office festive do?
Talking Point Seasonal cheer and morale-boosting benefits under threat from economic woes and employee disinterest – or dread
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
What is greenhushing?
Speed Read A new trend has companies keeping quiet about what they're doing to combat climate change
By Devika Rao Published
-
Why fashion may never be sustainable
Speed Read And should we even believe it if we see it?
By Brigid Kennedy Published
-
The jobs most and least at risk of being replaced by AI
Under the Radar AI could affect roughly 300 million full-time jobs if it reaches its full potential
By Keumars Afifi-Sabet Published
-
Autos: Fast-tracking the electric future
feature Will the transition to electric vehicles go smoothly?
By The Week Staff Published
-
Climate change is extending the tax season
Speed Read
By Devika Rao Published