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The Four-Day week...is it just marketing?
There is a lot of talk about the four-day week on Linkedin this week…
…But the real world is very different.
First off, I would LOVE a four-day week; who wouldn’t want one more day to enjoy your life? But I feel the idea is not going to gain widespread traction and ultimately has many flaws as an overall idea. The “four-day week” (in most, but not all cases) is just a “one size fits all” marketing tagline to get more eyeballs on more content.
Examples
The Reality
The reality, at least as it stands at the moment, is that four days a week is so exceedingly rare it’s almost non-existent.
There are currently 5,064,188* companies in the UK, and 100 companies represent 0.00197% of the overall total.
We do not have enough data to decide the true impact on production. Any short-term “Productivity” increases could be wiped away after 6-12 months, as people settle into their new work pattern.
Finally, any talk of four-day weeks are often confined to highly profitable, well-funded industries such as technology and financial services.
The Current Landscape
The next thing holding us back from a four day week is the current economic landscape.
- Britain already lives on credit…
- UK general government gross debt was £2,436.7 billion at the end of Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2022, equivalent to 101.9% of gross domestic product (GDP).
- Companies are currently wrestling with an energy cost crisis and a potential looming recession.
- In a hybrid work world, we are in a global market. Our competition is not working four days a week, with many Chinese companies operating the “996” working model (9 am – 9 pm, six days a week). Sadly in a connected world, some industries would just be outworked on the global stage.
- Finally, whilst not the most in the world, most accountants already get 25-30 holidays (often with a chance to buy more or gain with service), which means half of your 52 weeks a year can already be a four-day week, if you wish.
What CAN We Do?
I think there is a lot we can do (and already do) to make work fit in with modern life, whilst keeping the UK at the cutting edge of the world.
First, the COVID pandemic has already given us a fantastic change; hybrid working. For those that can take advantage, it is the single biggest change in decades and has a true positive impact on quality of life. Hybrid working is now almost ubiquitous, and it has taken just two years.
Next, as a work society we need to much more supportive of parents. For an Accountant, a new arrival into the family often means months out of work with maternity leave, any uncompleted studies being put on hold and a general slowdown of their career for a few years.
We can tackle this by offering more reduced hours roles, more flexible hours where possible, or the revolutionary idea of more childcare/reception facilities in the same building as your work place. Does every role need to be 37.5 hours, or can it be 35, or 32, or 30?
If childcare was free for all (I appreciate the huge cost here!), it would immediately release thousands of parents back into the world of work. The cost, complexity and burden of childcare, is often another hurdle for working parents to jump over.
Trial a 4.5-day week or a 9 day fortnight? An early finish on a Friday has worked for years in Manufacturing and seems a more reachable goal in the long term for many more industries.
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