Two hundred UK companies have signed up for a permanent four-day working week for all their employees with no loss of pay, in the latest landmark in the campaign to reinvent Britain’s working week.
Together, the companies employ more than 5,000 people, with charities, marketing and technology firms among the best-represented, according to the latest update from the 4 Day Week Foundation.
Proponents of the four-day week say that the five-day pattern is a hangover from an earlier economic age. Joe Ryle, the foundation’s campaign director, said that 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.”
With “50% more free time, a four-day week gives people the freedom to live happier, more fulfilling lives”, he continued. “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.”
Marketing, advertising and press relations firms led the charge, with 30 adopting the policy. This was followed by 29 organisations in the charity, NGO and social care industry, and 24 in technology, IT and software. Another 22 companies in the business, consulting and management sectors had also permanently offered four-day weeks to staff.
Overall, 200 companies have solidified their commitment to shorter weeks, which supporters say is a useful way of attracting and retaining employees and improving productivity by creating the same output over fewer hours. To date, London-based firms are the most enthusiastic, accounting for 59 of the total.
However, it signals a growing gulf in culture wars over working patterns, which were upended during the Covid-19 pandemic. So far, many employees have been battling for the right to continue working from home, let alone cut down their working days.
US-headquartered companies, including JPMorgan Chase and Amazon, have so far issued the strictest mandates, demanding staff attend work in person five days a week. Lloyds Banking Group is also considering whether senior staff are hitting their in-office targets when distributing annual bonuses.
Some workers who still enjoy the flexibility of remote working have been pushing back against back-to-office mandates, including a group of staff at Starling Bank, who resigned after the chief executive demanded thousands of workers attend its offices more frequently.
Several senior politicians from the Labour party, including the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, have voiced support for a four-day week. However, the party has not embraced the policy since gaining power, with some speculating that they are fearful of giving political ammunition to the Conservative opposition.
Research by Spark Market Research suggests that younger workers are the most likely to rail against traditional working patterns. About 78% of 18-34-year-olds in the UK believe a four-day working week will become the norm in five years’ time, while 65% said they do not want to see a return to full-time office work.
Spark managing director Lynsey Carolan said that “18-34 [year olds], the core workforce of the next 50 years, are making their feelings known that they don’t intend to go back to old-fashioned working patterns.
“This group also say that mental health and improving their overall wellbeing are their top priorities, so a four-day week is a really meaningful benefit and a key enabler of their overall quality of life.”
