Change to a 4 day working week

Limiting the necessity for people to travel to work and go to school by reducing the working week. I am sure there will be plenty of scientific evidence across the globe on the health benefits of this type of measure. I am sure many people will agree this crisis is helping us all redefine our work/live balance not to mention the environmental benefits of less travel, pollution etc.

Why the contribution is important

We should capture the essence of this problem, e.g. the impacts on public health and well-being, and reverse engineer them into the solution. An economy and society more focused on our health and well-being is more likely to bring longer term gains.

by Poligrrl on May 05, 2020 at 02:55PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.7
Based on: 29 votes

Comments

  • Posted by Arlers May 05, 2020 at 15:08

    Agree with the idea of a four-day week. We were all stressed out before the virus and there have been various businesses that have relaxed working days to 4 and found an increase in productivity. it would cut travel/pollution/create more family/leisure time and help mental health. Children too would benefit from having a home day.

  • Posted by Boblidd May 05, 2020 at 15:23

    Yes the more leisure holiday time people have the more productivity increases this is also in line with what the country has to consider with the 4th Industrial Revolution but as we have already known and has been highlighted during this crisis the essential staff are suffering financially and this must be redressed our NHS and many others deserve a pay rise and if we reduce the working week it must not be done by reducing the wage bill in fact the wage bill should be increase therefore encouraging economic growth.

  • Posted by Caledonian May 05, 2020 at 15:27

    There is merit in this idea however there are problems
    First it won’t and can’t be universally adopted easily
    Second it needs agreed contractural changes to Employment Contracts
    Service Industries are aligned to Customer needs and the Customer’s working hours
    We recently negotiated an early Friday shutdown, this entailed reducing one hour lunch break and an early Friday afternoon departure. It did need a Manager to stay behind to pick up calls
    Productivity increased, less time in the office and Staff morale improved
    There may be a half way house to a 4 day week

  • Posted by Nichola May 05, 2020 at 17:20

    I agree that something needs to be done about working patterns during this time. Speaking from my own perspective my husband is a key worker and I have found my own mental wellbeing significantly deteriorated being on my own with 2 kids during lockdown. There have been no alterations made to working times and no consideration to the impact of homeschooling, restriction, emotional wellbeing. Unfortunately some companies are using their key worker status unfairly and taking absolutely no account of employee or family health. We have very little quality family time now.

    In the longer term, if restrictions do continue I think having more family time and a better work life balance will be key to maintaining our mental health.

  • Posted by marge5867 May 06, 2020 at 08:14

    This seems to me an ideal time to be moving to a new way of working longer term. There is already a range of research on the many positive impacts of moving to 4 days weeks including increased productivity, well-being and work-life balance and decreased carbon footprint.

    I also think, as part of this new way of working, that increased support for home-working on a long term basis should considered where possible. This would also contribute to a positive work life balance and reduced carbon footprint.

  • Posted by Pretendiname May 06, 2020 at 22:24

    Personally, the benefit of this being encouraged is that myself and my partner would stand a chance of getting a day of home schooling or activities each if we could stagger them. It is important to think of this in terms of communities and not individuals.

    The real trick in this would be to stagger the days so that the entire country wasn't "off" on Friday.

  • Posted by Andymc May 07, 2020 at 08:37

    Yes the change in employment due to automation will have to be phased in. I agree with a 4 day work week because people are more productive in their jobs given less hours, (although consult the research on that to double check)!

    And by the way people I've seen to make the use of spare time, gardening volunteering, taking care of their children. We should promote time for these things as a society.

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