The four-day week: how does it work and where does Labour stand on the policy?

The world’s biggest four-day working week trial began in the UK on Monday. More than 3,300 workers across 70 companies are involved in the scheme, which will see participants work reduced hours with no loss of pay for a period of six months. Participants will receive 100% pay for 80% of their usual hours, having made a commitment to maintain 100% productivity. The businesses taking part operate in a variety of sectors, from fish and chip shops to software companies.

The trial is being run by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with the think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week campaign and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College. Lead researcher on the pilot Juliet Schor described the scheme as “historic”, explaining that her team will be analysing “how employees respond to having an extra day off, in terms of stress and burnout, job and life satisfaction, health, sleep, energy use, travel and many other aspects of life”.

Previous trials in Iceland, which took place between 2015 and 2019, were found by researchers to have been an “overwhelming success“ and led to many workers reducing their working hours. As in the UK trial, Iceland’s pilot saw workers being paid the same amount for shorter hours. It found that productivity remained the same or improved in the majority of workplaces taking part. Companies in New Zealand have also been trialling a four-day week on a smaller scale, including Unilever, which began a year-long pilot at the start of 2021. Announcing the trial, the company’s managing director Nick Bangs said: “We believe the old ways of working are outdated and no longer fit for purpose.”

Common Wealth think tank’s Adam Peggs told LabourList that the UK’s trial is a “key opportunity to demonstrate the value of reduced working time”. In his view, the trial will “help us understand the benefits of a shorter working week not just for salaried office workers on secure incomes but for workers across sectors”. But he added: “Giving people the free time they need and deserve will require sweeping changes to make the labour market work for all workers. Boosting wages in real terms, ending low pay and tackling precarious work are all central to this mission.”

So where does Labour stand on the idea of a four-day week? It was one of the party’s key policies at the 2019 general election. The then Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told conference that year that the next Labour government would “reduce the average full-time working week to 32 hours within the next decade” and argued that “the link between increasing productivity and expanded free time has been broken”.

The 4 Day Week campaign has urged the Labour Party to recommit to introducing a shorter working week. Its research found that half of ‘Red Wall’ voters said they would be more likely to vote Labour in a future general election if the party supported a four-day week with no loss of pay. But the survey also found that 40% of Labour voters would be more likely to vote for the Conservatives if they backed the proposal, demonstrating the strong appeal of the policy. Commenting on the findings, 4 Day Week campaign director Joe Ryle described the four-day week as a “win-win for workers and employers” and argued that Labour could “win big” in the Red Wall by re-affirming its support for the policy ahead of the next election.

The 4 Day Week campaign’s survey suggests that a commitment to a four-day week by either party could sway voters in the Red Wall at the next general election. Earlier polling from Autonomy – published in July 2020 – found that 63% of the British public are in favour of the government exploring the idea of a four-day week, indicating that such a policy would also have widespread support across the country. From a political perspective, Labour recommitting to a four day working week seems something of a no-brainer.

Of course, a long-term transition to a new working pattern is more complex than simply capping workers’ hours. A report by Lord Skidelsky – commissioned by the Labour Party in 2019 – concluded that a blanket cap on hours was “not realistic or even desirable” and that any cap would have to be adapted to the requirements of different sectors of the economy. And as Peggs argues, such a cap would have to be accompanied by significant changes to other aspects of the world of work to ensure all workers are able to take advantage of reduced hours. The current trial – given its size and the diversity of the workplaces involved – will provide vital insights into how a four-day week would work in practice.

Asked what Labour’s current stance on the policy is, a party spokesperson told LabourList: “The next Labour government will deliver a new deal for working people, giving all workers both the right to flexible working from day one as a default and the right to switch off outside of working hours. Our package of reforms will build an economy based on fair pay, job security, dignity and equality at work that improves the work-life balance of working families.”

So at the moment, we are none the wise on where Labour stands on this policy. It was in the last election manifesto, but it is fair to say that plenty of the proposals in the last manifesto will not be in the next. Nonetheless, given the sheer scale of this trial and the more mainstream discussion of this proposal, a four-day working week is becoming an increasingly plausible prospect. And one that should be a key consideration as Labour develops its policy offer to the British people.