The U.K. government has announced a proposal that will give employees the fitting to request a four-day working week.
On the floor, it seems to be a daring step. It responds to calls for – intensified by the pandemic – for a brand new sample of working that offers larger flexibility over working hours. And though this particular proposal focuses on compressing traditional work hours into fewer days, it speaks to some great benefits of shorter hours which have grow to be a outstanding a part of campaigns for a four-day working week.
But, there are points with the proposal. Particularly, it’s restricted in its ambition and insufficient as a mechanism for normalising a four-day working week.
In a single sense, a proper to request a four-day working week already exists within the UK. Below legislation enacted by the final authorities in April 2024, employees have the fitting to request versatile working from day certainly one of their employment. How far the newly proposed proper to request a four-day working week will change issues stays unsure.
At present, employees should persuade employers to grant them versatile working. Below the brand new proposal, it’s claimed employers might want to give causes for refusing a request. Inserting the burden of proof on employers could then embolden extra employees to request a four-day working week.
There stay issues, nevertheless. A “proper to request” will not be a “proper to have” a four-day week and adjustments in laws should imply that many individuals hold working 5 days. Below present legal guidelines, employers can nonetheless resist the requests of employees, in the event that they wish to.
There’s additionally the issue of unevenness within the impact of the regulation. Whereas employees in well-paid jobs have bargaining leverage to claim their authorized rights, others in lower-paid jobs face minimal safety and threat direct exploitation.
The hazard is {that a} proper to request a four-day working week turns into a luxurious solely open to these in some skilled jobs. This hazard is already obvious in trials of a four-day working week which have tended to be concentrated in sectors with jobs which have comparatively excessive wages and beneficial prospects and circumstances.
Staff in low-paid and insecure jobs, together with within the gig economic system, face nearly zero prospect of decreasing their work hours for a similar pay.
The priority right here isn’t just financial and social, with the advantages of a four-day working week being erratically distributed, but in addition political. Therefore advancing the case for a four-day working week is more likely to be tougher whether it is seen as benefiting just one part of society (one which already enjoys sturdy rights and privileges).
The seeming function of the regulation in underpinning inequality in entry to a four-day working week is more likely to make issues even worse. Once more, employees with out the power to request a four-day working week as a result of a scarcity of recommendation, bargaining energy or illustration could face worsening working hours relative to their better-off counterparts.
Wellbeing issues
One other downside is the scope for compressed hours – working a five-day week of round 40 hours in 4 days. Below the brand new proposal, employees requesting and getting a four-day working week will nonetheless be required to place in the identical hours.
Longer work days could also be welcomed by some – for instance, they could reduce down on childcare costs. However they threat undermining the advantages of a shorter working week. Certainly, they could threaten the well being of employees by creating heavier work days which they want longer to get better from. At worst, a three-day weekend could also be wanted to get better from a four-day working week with longer days.
Maybe a bonus of the mooted change within the regulation is that it prompts a broader debate on the aim and potential of a four-day working week. It might assist to carry into focus the extent to which new insurance policies – past a proper to request versatile working – are wanted to safe a four-day working week for all employees.
If the federal government is severe about reaching a four-day working week to boost productiveness and enhance worker wellbeing, it must encourage trials within the public sector. A current trial by South Cambridgeshire Council confirmed how a four-day working week (32 hours on the identical pay) can work efficiently and presents a blueprint for wider trials throughout the general public sector.
The federal government additionally wants to focus on a future date, say 2040, for the realisation of a four-day working week. This could possibly be facilitated by establishing a partnership of unions and employers to determine boundaries to a four-day working week and methods to beat them.
Pathways to a four-day working week should deal with issues of inequality. It will be significant that low wages are addressed alongside work-time discount. Making a four-day working week viable for extra employees will inevitably require increased wages together with a better minimum wage.
A four-day working week can assist reply to the issue of low productiveness and deal with problems with local weather change whereas bettering the standard of life. It might and should be part of the future of work.
However it is going to take effort to attain it – not least from the federal government – and can take a look at the boundaries of the regulation. It can entail a reimagining of the economy and a transfer to a state of affairs the place work and life are skilled otherwise and higher. Ultimately, we should all work to work much less.
David Spencer is a professor of economics and political economic system on the University of Leeds.
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