According to an article published by The Telegraph on 29 August 2024, “Workers are to be given new rights to demand a four-day week in a law planned for this autumn”. Reading this, it would be reasonable to assume that a major change in the law had been announced. However, that’s not the case. Yes, the Government has plans to strengthen the right to request flexible working. That was announced a while ago. But the four-day working week is not new. As long as flexible working rules have been in place, it has been an option. In this feature, Stacie Cheadle, Croner-i Technical Writer, looks at whether or not this style of working is worth the attention it is getting.
The Government’s proposals
In Labour’s Plan to Make Work Pay, released in the lead-up to the July 2024 general election, it promised to “help ensure workers can benefit from flexible working […] by making flexible working the default from day one for all workers, except where it is not reasonably feasible”. It isn’t clear whether the reports in The Telegraph are anything new or are based on this. Hopefully, clarity will be provided by the Employment Rights Bill which is to be laid before Parliament within 100 days of Labour entering government, sometime in October.
Requesting a flexible working pattern
The right to request flexible working was first introduced in April 2003 for eligible employees. Since 6 April 2024, all employees from the first day of employment can request it, where they have not made two other requests in the preceding 12 months.
Under flexible working, employees can request to change:
the hours they are required to work
the times they are required to work
where they work.
These allow for a wide range of working patterns to be requested.
One of the patterns to emerge is “compressed hours”, where an employee increases their working hours over four days to absorb the fifth day’s hours. But this isn’t the only way to do it. Different organisations have different ways of doing this, with varying degrees of success.
The four-day working week pilot
From June to December 2022, more than 60 UK companies, employing more than 3000 workers, were involved in a trial of a four-day working week where employees received 100% pay for 80% working time but were expected to maintain 100% productivity.
Following the pilot, 92% of participants vowed to continue with a four-day working week, with 29% making it permanent. Many of the organisations involved were satisfied that performance and productivity stayed broadly the same, and revenue rose by 1.4% (on average). There was also a substantial decline (57%) in the likelihood that an employee would quit and a 65% reduction in the number of sick days.
For the employees involved, 71% of them reported lower levels of burnout. They also reported a decrease in stress, fatigue and sleep issues, and mental and physical health improved. Participants also found it easier to balance work with family and social commitments, and were more satisfied with their household finances, relationships and how their time was being managed.
A four-day working week isn’t for everyone
The supermarket chain Morrisons attempted a form of compressed hours for head office staff. It offered employees the chance to work one less day a week in return for working 13 Saturdays a year. However, employees didn’t like this requirement, and it was scrapped.
Whilst an extra day off each week is appealing, the payback can make it unpalatable. Reducing days doesn’t recognise the underlying causes of burnout and dissatisfaction, such as overwhelming workloads. Working four longer days can leave some employees exhausted and the additional day off is lost to recovery, causing the four-day working week to lose its advantages.
Increasing working hours each day may also cause practical problems with employees’ caring responsibilities, lack of public transport to get to work/home or being pushed into a busier traffic rush hour. They may have regular social commitments too which are affected by longer daily working hours.
For many, working less days in the week is simply not an option. For example, compressed hours for teachers are unlikely to be a viable option without significant rearrangement of timetables and the agreement of other employees. This is because unlike other roles, in teaching you cannot get around the fact the children are only on site between specific hours, and the hours not being worked by a teacher working compressed hours would need to be picked up by another, potentially increasing the employer’s wage bill.
Depending on the organisation, it can result in positive cultural change. However, it can be divisive if not everyone wants to work a four-day working week. Disputes could arise where work isn’t completed because they are working four instead of five days, leading to missed deadlines and putting pressure on colleagues picking up work.
Practicalities of a four-day working week
There are practical challenges of implementing the shorter working week. Employers must seek employee agreement before changing contractual terms and conditions. Whilst a reduction in working hours will likely be favoured by many, this won’t always be the case, especially if it increases daily working hours or reduces salary. Once the changes have been consulted on and accepted, employers must still monitor the performance and attitudes of their people.
Employers will also have to be clear about their productivity expectations. Oftentimes, employees on four-day working weeks are still expected to produce the same levels of work, so find themselves more stressed due to the lack of time to finish their work. They may feel forced to work overtime during evenings or weekends which can cause problems.
It will be important that arrangements are made so that the “lost day” doesn’t detriment the effectiveness of employees. How will meetings be scheduled? Asking an employee to attend a meeting on their off day negates the function of having it in the first place, even if the employee is recompensed.
Advantages of a four-day working week
The pandemic initiated a shift in employees’ priorities and expectations, with a focus on an effective work-life balance. As such, more employees are looking to their employer to facilitate flexible and hybrid working arrangements, and if their employer cannot provide this they may move on.
As living costs continue to rise, there are also now extra pressures on employers to support employees financially. With a shorter working week, employees are saving on commuter costs, lunch expenses and childcare fees, which all add up to benefit the employee.
Employees who feel like their employer supports their work-life balance and puts measures in place to improve emotional and financial wellbeing will be more engaged and motivated, and it could attract new talent to the organisation; a UK bank saw a 500% surge in job applications after it introduced a four-day working week model.
Takeaway
There are pros and cons of introducing a four-day working week, and these will vary from organisation to organisation. Should a business choose to implement this, it must plan carefully to maximise its effectiveness.
