The idea of supporting the transition to a \u2018four-day week\u2019 \u2013 with no loss of pay compared to a \u2018standard\u2019 Monday to Friday working week \u2013 has been gaining traction.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iceland recently experimented with a shorter working week and claimed it had been an\u00a0overwhelming success<\/a>.\u00a0Spain<\/a>and New Zealand have both recently announced trials of a 32-hour week. Closer to home, the Scottish government\u00a0has set out plans for<\/a>\u00a0a \u00a310 million pilot that will help companies explore the benefits and costs of moving to a four-day working week and Belfast City Council\u00a0has mooted<\/a>\u00a0the idea of a four-day week on full-time pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what is a four-day week?\u00a0When people talk about this idea, it is usually shorthand for a world where people typically work around 30 hours a week, with flexibility over when to work those hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The enthusiasm for a four-day week has often been motivated by two main beliefs. First, it is argued that shorter working weeks can lead to higher productivity (Coote et al, 2020<\/a>). Second, shorter hours can be associated with higher levels of happiness and improved work-life balance (Gash et al, 2018<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n More recently, shorter working weeks have also been proposed as a means of maintaining high employment in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic (Frey et al, 2020<\/a>). Rather like an extended furlough scheme for sectors badly affected by the pandemic, the idea is that this would prevent lay-offs and support a transition to \u2018more desirable\u2019 patterns of working time in the longer term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But is a move to a four-day week \u2013 without loss of pay for employees \u2013 really viable? This article first considers what such changes would look like in historical context, and goes on to examine the potential impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seen in a historical context, the aspiration for a four-day week can be seen as the continuation of a longer-term trend (see Figure 1).\u00a0Average weekly hours worked<\/a>\u00a0in the UK fell from 66 in 1800 to 56 in 1900, and then to 49 in the 1930s.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat does the evidence tell us about the trends in hours worked and the desire for different working patterns?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Figure 1: Average weekly hours worked, 1750 to 2016<\/h4>\n\n\n