Is a four-day work week the future of the UK?

The study will also attempt to understand how a four-day work week affects the local environment and whether it can be successful in achieving stronger gender equality.

The UK’s programme takes inspiration from Iceland, which ran a similar trial from 2015 to 2019.

Workers in Iceland were given 35-hour work weeks (instead of the traditional 40) without pay cuts. The trial showed that productivity at work was not hindered by a shorter work week. In fact, operations ran exactly the same – if not better – when employees worked for fewer hours.

Another key takeaway from Iceland was that men in heterosexual relationships contributed more to domestic labour such as cooking and cleaning when offered a shortened work week. All of these successes led to the trial becoming permanent for all of Iceland’s citizens.

Shortened work days are not bound by European culture, either.

In Japan’s Microsoft headquarters, productivity was boosted by 40 percent when the work week was shortened to four days in 2019. The company also found that electricity consumption was sliced by 23 percent and the use of printer paper dropped 59 percent.

These successful examples have led countries such as the USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand to begin planning for similar trial schemes.

After The Great Resignation of the past year, workers have shown that unless businesses are willing to respect their overall health and wellbeing – they’d rather look elsewhere for an employer that will.

Labour shortages have had a drastic impact on the economy and the four-day work week could offer a solution to the ongoing trend, especially in sectors like healthcare, teaching, and the hospitality sector – most of which require employees to work upwards of 51 hours a week.

One of the biggest lessons we learned from the pandemic is that the little time we have to spend with family and friends is invaluable. People around the world are beginning to seriously challenge what a suitable work-life balance truly is.

So, the question remains: will a four-day work week become the UK’s reality?

We’ll have to see if the six-month trial is long enough to establish considerable grounds for making the five-day work week a thing of the past for all sectors.

I’m sure many people across the UK are hoping it can.