Momentum builds for UK to catch up with European neighbours and embrace a four-day working week

‘In the UK, we work some of the longest full-time working hours in Europe, we have done for decades, and we also have one of the least productive economies.’

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead 

Today

LEFT FOOT FORWARD

Labour is facing increasing pressure for the UK to align with its European neighbours and embrace a four-day working week. Recent polling found that nearly three-quarters of Labour voters would support the government introducing a four-day working week, without any loss of pay. The study was commissioned by the progressive research organisation the Autonomy Institute, which promotes a fairer and more democratic economy. The study polled 2,048 adults and found that 72 percent of people who had voted Labour in the general election are in support of the government introducing a shorter working week.

The think-tank warns that Labour’s highly publicised New Deal for Working People (NDFWP) plans lack crucial detail and are full of ambiguities. Concerns were raised about Labour’s commitment to employment reform when it emerged in May that instead of fulfilling a pledge to end all zero-hour contracts, it would only ban “exploitative” elements of the contracts.

The think-tank’s polling found that only 24 percent of people believe all Labour’s proposals will be implemented, while 76 percent think some of them will be introduced. Increasing the minimum wage to a real living wage (£12 an hour outside London and £13.15 inside the capital) was ranked as the best element of the overall Labour package by 39 percent of respondents. Tackling insecure contracts was ranked the highest priority by 21 percent, while the “right to switch off” and not be contacted by employers outside of work hours was the top issue for 20 percent of respondents.

The study also found that 72 percent of Labour voters support the government moving the country to a shorter working week by 2030. Support for the scheme was found across the political spectrum, with 59 percent of Reform voters also backing a four-day week.

In 2023, South Cambridgeshire District Council became the first council in Britain to test a four-day week. Shorter week campaigners describe the model as “long overdue”, saying that “millions of workers in Britain are burnt out, stressed, overworked and in desperate need of a better work-life balance.”

“In the UK, we work some of the longest full-time working hours n Europe, we have done for decades, and we also have one of the least productive economies,” said Joe Ryle, director of the 4 Day Week Campaign.



“That suggests that all these long working hours we’re putting in aren’t producing good results for workers, and they’re definitely not producing good results for the economy either… It’s been 100 years since we moved from a six-day working week to a five-day week, and we feel that moving to a four-day week is long overdue,” Ryle added.

Several countries have successfully introduced trials for shorter working weeks. Belgium was the first in Europe to legislate for a four-day week, allowing employees to work four days instead of five without a reduction in salary. Germany, which already has one of the shortest average working weeks in Europe at 34.2 hours, began a six-month trial of the four-day workweek in February 2024 with 45 companies participating.

Following the success of other European trials, Portugal joined the growing list of countries experimenting with a four-day workweek. As part of a government-funded pilot announced in June 2023, 39 private companies are participating in the initiative in partnership with the non-profit group 4 Day Week Global.

Will Stronge, director of research at the Autonomy Institute, said that the UK works longer full-time hours than nearly all of its European counterparts and “has not experienced a meaningful reduction in working hours since the 1980s.” He noted that while Labour’s New Deal for Working People is a positive step, it lacks a comprehensive plan for reducing working hours. “If the priority is health, decent working conditions, and business innovation, this needs to be part of the program,” Stronge added.

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