Last year, one of the largest trials of a four-day working week in the UK occurred. As a result, 92 percent of the companies that took part decided to continue with the four-day week after the pilot, outlines Alexandra Farmer.
When we talk about the four-day week it is important to remember that it is not a move towards compressed hours. This is a campaign for a four-day, 32 hour working week with no loss of pay.
What are the biggest business considerations of switching to a a four-day week?
The move to a shorter week has been sparking an interesting debate for some time and whilst these trials and pilot schemes accelerate the discussion around it, the reality is that implementation of it, even on a small scale, could be a slow burn. It is unlikely to impact the wider job market for some time – if ever.
For certain industries however, namely those predominantly ‘office based and nine-to-five’, it is a realistic option that could be introduced and bring many benefits.
In today’s competitive job market, it could aid recruitment efforts as well as boosting engagement and morale with existing employees to support staff retention.
For those who are deliberating making the move, there are some key considerations to make first:
- How do employees currently work?
- What are the demands on the business/organisation from clients or service users?
- Does the work require someone to be present or available at certain times? This won’t limit the introduction of a four-day week but may require rolling rotas or varying working days across the workforce.
- Are there any regulatory requirements to be mindful of?
- Do you have part-time staff currently? How would the change impact them?
The amending of part-time employee contracts is a big consideration due to the ‘one hundred percent pay’ nature of the four-day week, for eighty percent of the hours. You may have to look to reduce the working time of part-time workers or increase salaries so it matches that of full-time staff.
6. Should the introduction be subject to a trial? This is possible but it should be made explicitly clear to employees, when a trial would begin and end.
Arguably, there are currently more questions than answers surrounding this way of working. Therefore, the results of trials, plus learnings taken from other countries such as Japan, Iceland and New Zealand who are early adopters of the short week will be crucial to ironing out the many creases.
An alternative solution that brings similar benefits
For many, at least one of these considerations could put the brakes on plans to introduce the new initiative. If you are left undecided but still want to explore better benefits for employees then there may be a more suitable option – reviewing flexible and home-based working plans.
This could be a viable alternative solution to the four-day week if you’re unsure how feasible the latter is for your company. The same benefits that people find from a shorter week are often found in flexible working. This includes an improved work-life balance, less money spent on commuting and a reduced carbon footprint.
Flexible hours will allow people to work more freely around personal commitments and family life and within flexible working policies, you can give options to compress hours to reduce the working week without having all the complexities of moving to a 32-hour week.
Whilst we are anticipating a post-pandemic increase in businesses requesting a return to offices and workplaces, keep in mind any benefits that could be reduced as a result and consider if that would have a detrimental impact on morale.
The Government is also supporting employee flexibility in the workplace through its recent commitment to make flexible working the default, so this will potentially boost flexible working too. It’s advised of multiple changes including the right for employees to request flexible working from the first day of employment and allowing employees to make two requests in any 12-month period.
Currently, employees must have 26 weeks’ continuous service to submit a request to work flexibly and employees can only make one request in every 12 months with time being counted from the date of the request.
Whilst primary and secondary legislation will be required to introduce the Government’s proposed changes, the commitment is there.
The boost given to flexible working also means we are still unlikely to see a seismic shift to a four-day working week here in the UK.
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Alexandra Farmer is Head of Team and Solicitor at WorkNest.
