00:00 Hi, my name is India and I'm a researcher and consultant at the Think Tank Autonomy.
00:04 The Independent has asked for your questions about the four-day working week,
00:08 so let's take a look at what you've asked.
00:09 Tim asks, "Will companies be likely to try and keep the same work hours over the week?"
00:21 This is a question that we get fairly regularly,
00:24 and it's about whether there's real working time reduction for workers
00:29 or whether it's a compressed policy,
00:31 so where people work the same number of hours they would do,
00:34 37.5 hours or 40 hours, in fewer days.
00:38 And at Autonomy, we really advocate for a real reduction,
00:42 so a 10 to 20% reduction in working hours for no loss in pay for staff.
00:46 Ideally, this looks like between 28 and 32 hours a week.
00:50 Harry asks, "What is the optimum day to take the extra day off?
00:53 Monday, Friday, or a break in the middle?"
00:56 I mean, this is really personal preference.
00:59 A lot of people like having a Monday or a Friday off
01:01 because it gives them a three-day weekend,
01:04 but also taking a break off in the middle can be good for some people.
01:08 They like not ever working more than two days in a row,
01:11 or for those with caring responsibilities,
01:13 sometimes having a Wednesday off is better for childcare
01:16 or for any other care responsibilities.
01:19 Etienne asks, "I mainly read about experiences of implementing the four-day work weeks
01:24 in service sector companies or white-collar environments.
01:27 Were any attempts made for factory workers, restaurants, or the building sector?"
01:30 So, white-collar environments, as Etienne's asked,
01:34 are the most common area that we see four-day week trials happening,
01:39 but it's definitely not exclusively happening in those sectors.
01:41 So, for example, in the four-day week pilot that happened in 2022
01:47 that we released the results for in 2023,
01:51 we had a brewery, we had a fish and chip shop, a housing association,
01:55 and there are lots of examples of organisations in varying sectors
02:01 taking part in four-day week trials.
02:03 It's more challenging in some other sectors
02:05 than traditional kind of desk-based work,
02:08 but it's definitely not impossible,
02:10 and efficiencies can be found,
02:12 and investments in labour-saving technology
02:14 can be found in a lot of different environments.
02:16 Laura asks, "What are the most common benefits you've seen from a four-day work week?"
02:20 So, there are loads of different benefits
02:22 that we see from people moving to a four-day week.
02:26 For individuals, this can range from being happier, less stressed,
02:31 having a better work-life balance,
02:33 having more time to see family,
02:36 take up more hobbies, do volunteering, all of that sort of thing.
02:40 And your time off, you know, the ratio on a standard weekend,
02:45 to work week, you have five days working, two days off,
02:48 but on a four-day week, you have four days working, three days off,
02:51 which means that the time you have off
02:52 is nearly the same amount of time as you have working.
02:56 So, that ratio can be really quite game-changing.
02:59 And we also see benefits for employers as well.
03:03 If you've got a happier, healthier workforce,
03:05 then that's much better for your working environment.
03:08 We see productivity increasing, efficiencies being found,
03:13 and it can be a win-win all round.
03:15 Nicole says, "How has the four-day work week
03:17 affected companies' goals for efficiency and maximised productivity?"
03:21 So, efficiency and productivity are subjects that come up a lot
03:25 in relation to organisations moving to a four-day week,
03:28 particularly while organisations are doing it kind of voluntarily,
03:32 and therefore are trying to maintain exactly the same output as before,
03:36 but on reduced working hours.
03:38 So, productivity is a bit of a buzzword.
03:41 On a macroeconomic scale, it means something slightly different
03:44 to what it would mean in an organisation.
03:46 And organisations measure productivity in different ways
03:49 and often not really at all.
03:51 So, when we put it under a bit of scrutiny with businesses
03:55 or different organisations,
03:56 productivity often ends up just meaning financial performance
04:01 or meeting kind of quite vague key performance indicators or KPIs.
04:07 So, when they're actually getting into a trial,
04:09 often organisations end up focusing maybe on, yeah,
04:13 revenue, financial performance,
04:15 and then also on things like staff wellbeing,
04:18 rather than trying to measure a very strict form of productivity.
04:22 Efficiency is quite important when organisations are voluntarily
04:25 moving to a four-day week to help find time savings
04:29 and enable that same output level on reduced times.
04:35 And efficiencies can come from all sorts of areas of an organisation.
04:39 This could be meetings culture, reducing bureaucracy,
04:43 analysing targets and reducing time spent on different activities.
04:47 Even things like, you know, in one case study we saw
04:51 for this housing association that we worked with in the UK pilot,
04:55 that their repair team did more forward planning
04:59 on when they needed to go to a trade centre and buy new supplies, etc.
05:03 And that just saved a certain number of hours a week of driving
05:06 that they no longer had to do.
05:07 Tio asks, "What can I say to the company I work at
05:10 that will incentivise them to adopt the four-day week?"
05:12 Great question.
05:14 We really encourage employees to be raising the four-day week
05:17 as a topic of discussion with their employers.
05:20 And in terms of what you can do and talk about to help make this happen,
05:24 first of all, I would recommend putting together a bit of a document
05:28 with why you think it would be a good idea,
05:31 case studies and evidence supporting your argument.
05:34 I would also talk to your colleagues about it,
05:36 get your colleagues to sign a petition or get signatures on this case
05:40 and take that to management.
05:42 Alternatively, you could go through your trade union
05:44 and we're seeing a lot of examples of organisations
05:46 considering moving to a four-day week because of union asks.
05:50 And the four-day week campaign UK has a lot of great resources on this
05:54 for employees to take to their employers.
05:57 Thank you for your questions about the four-day working week.
06:00 You can watch more episodes of You Asked the Questions at Independent TV.
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