At the UK Labour Party conference in the autumn, one of the flagship policies announced was for a four-day working week.  It’s a policy that attracted considerable debate and attention, but while there has been a degree of scepticism about how practical it is, a new paper from the New Economics Foundation suggests it’s a concept that is gaining growing support.

“Obtaining shorter working hours without a loss in pay offers a way to tackle symptoms of overwork—providing people with more time to relax, spend time with friends and family, to participate in democratic processes and to fulfill caring responsibilities,” the authors argue.

It’s a policy the think tank have been advocating for over a decade, and they believe that it’s gaining a groundswell of support, helped in part by the campaign they created in 2015 to support moves that they believe will help society and the economy.

A virtuous circle of productivity

While critics voice concern that a four-day working week will result in a catastrophic loss in productivity, the paper argues that it could instead result in a ‘virtuous circle of productivity’.

“By working less, people are more likely to stimulate the economy, spending more money outside of work and more time their local communities,” it says.

The authors argue that there is a backlog of productivity growth that the workforce hasn’t benefited from, and if this could be tapped into, then a shorter working week is a definite possibility.

They also believe that a shorter working week would help to ease the chronic sickness problem blighting the British workforce.  They cite figures from the British Safety Council, which reveal that 57% of all sick days were stress related, with 44% caused by workload pressure alone.

While the authors believe there is a clear economic argument for a shorter working week, it is these health and safety figures that they argue provide the true driver for change, and that by providing a shorter work week, it puts our work life balance on a more even keel.

“Burnout, exhaustion and stress are costly for both workers’ health and the economy,” the report concludes.  “Winning shorter working hours without a loss in pay offers a way to tackle symptoms of overwork, providing people with more time to rest and balance other responsibilities.”