Expert Scrutiny: Four-Day Working and Seven-Day Operation

Dear James, Thanks for sending your two proposals on the 4dw / 24/7 working. I’m in broad agreement with your paper on the four day week, but I suggest it needs a fair bit more work. Here are some suggestions. You justify it mainly on economic grounds, but there is also a lot of evidence that employees working for employers that do a 32 hour or 4 day week are healthier, happier and better motivated, I’m surprised you don’t include that as support. You don’t say how this would be achieved. By working time regulation that would ban employers from employment contracts with more than 32 hours? Or by encouragement through tax breaks? Or collective bargaining? Mandating overtime bonus-rates for hours above 32? Or copying the Spanish proposals that nearly became legislation this year, but just failed at the final hurdle? The implications for pay need to be clearer. The 100-80-100 model is very clear that nobody should get a pay cut (otherwise there would be a riot!). How would that be achieved for, for instance, hourly paid workers or those in the gig economy? Would the minimum wage need to be increased so nobody working 32 hours is worse off than they were before on 40 hours? Is the idea that employers on the new model would be more efficient, so would not need to employ more people (as in the 100-80-100 model)? Or, you seem to be suggesting, that more people would need to be employed thus reducing unemployment and economic inactivity but also increasing prices or reducing profitability? There is now quite a big literature post-covid on the 4dw, with much evidence of companies that have gone to a 4dw. This needs to be included so your arguments on the increases in productivity etc can be better supported. I’m less convinced by your arguments in proposal 24 for “abolishing the weekend” (as some might read it). Previously when regulation on “keeping Sunday Special” has been eroded it has been very controversial, with some regulation still in place to disincentivise working on a Sunday, such as limiting large shops to 6 hours opening on a Sunday. There was strong opposition from religious groups and from trade unions. My impression is that most businesses can operate just fine in four or five days a week. In some cases they all need to be at work at the same times, so operating from Monday to Thursday is fine. In other cases businesses need to stay open 5 or 6 days a week. And there are a small number of businesses where operating 7 days a week is either highly desirable or essential. And there are some cases where shift work is needed to provide 24 hour cover, but there is now a lot of evidence that working nights is very bad for health, and causes increased rates of cancer, etc. So, for these reasons, any top-down imposition of changes to create seven days of work might easily backfire and reduce, rather than increase, productivity and wellbeing. Apart from some regulation to dissuade businesses from the most exploitative or unhealthy practices, perhaps businesses should be left to decide on their own pattern of working over the week? I’m not convinced that this should make your “top 40” list. I hope this is helpful, Brendan. Professor Brendan Burchell Department of Sociology Fellow, Magdalene College University of Cambridge.