What if every Monday was a bank holiday? It might seem utopian: but two-thirds of Brits believe that most people will enjoy four-day working weeks within half a decade, a new survey by the Four Day Week Foundation has found. More than 200 companies in the UK – employing some 5,000 staff – have already permanently adopted the 32-hour week for employees with no loss of pay. Most Brits expect to follow them.
Some 68% of people surveyed by Spark Market Research on behalf of the foundation agreed with the statement “in five years’ time I think the four-day working week will become the norm”. That rose to 78% among people aged 18-34. From a new UK pilot to union backing: The four-day working week has never been closer to reality The world of work is changing.
Will 2025 be the tipping point for the four-day working week? Working from home isn’t ‘proper work’, ex-Asda boss says. Is flexible work really destroying Britain? The tide is turning against the five-day week, said Joe Ryle, the foundation’s campaign director – and the change will make the lives of workers “happier [and] more fulfilling”. “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,” he said.
“The 9-5, five-day working week was invented 100 years ago and is no longer fit for purpose. We are long overdue an update.” A 2022 pilot of the policy yielded positive results.
In 2022, 61 c.
