This year’s pay claim includes asking for a four-day week, a proportionate reduction in working hours, and pro-rata improvements for those on non-standard working patterns.
It’s obvious why workers might want a four-day week – having more time to recover from work and for family, friends, life-admin, leisure, volunteering, hobbies etc, along with improved physical and mental health. Many workers already choose a shorter working week, often to cope with caring responsibilities, disabilities or health problems. A standard four-day week would mean workers no longer have to take a pay cut to do this.
Until 1980, workers were making steady progress in reducing the working week, but that has stalled.
The five-day week is a legacy from a century ago, when workers were assumed to be male, able-bodied, and with a wife looking after the home and family. Society has moved on, but the world of work is lagging behind. We now have a society where many people work longer hours than they would like, while others can’t get enough hours to make ends meet – both of which have a negative impact on physical and mental health.
In the last few years there has been a growing movement for a four-day week, accelerated by the experience of Covid which led many people to place a greater value on their time. Shorter hours helps people make environmentally positive and healthy choices – from their travel to their diet. Research has shown that a four-day week could reduce the UK’s carbon footprint by 127 million tonnes per year, which is the equivalent of taking 27 million cars off the road (effectively the entire UK private car fleet).
Over 230 UK employers have permanently adopted the four-day working week without reducing pay. Of the 61 who took part in the pilot with the 4-day week foundation, 92% decided to continue with it.
TfGM, with its 37-hour week, is behind many other transport authorities, councils and other employers who demand fewer hours.
How does it work?
We are asking for a four-day week with a proportionate reduction in hours (see image), which would mean a 29.6 hour full-time week. To get the 4-day week foundation’s ‘gold standard’ accreditation, an employer must offer a permanent four-day week with a reduction of hours to more than 32 with no loss of pay. There are options to spread the 32 hours over five says where it suits someone better.
In a context like TfGM, a four-day week obviously wouldn’t mean everyone working Monday to Thursday, any more than we all currently work Monday to Friday. We provide services to our communities every day of the week.
The employers taking the lead on the issue are finding significant benefits for themselves, as well as their staff:
- Improved productivity
- Improved recruitment
- Reduced staff turnover
- Reduced sickness absence
- Higher staff morale
- Reduced office costs
Obviously not all these benefits would apply to every job, but every job should see some benefits and most employers are finding that the benefits overall are enough to offset the costs of needing additional staff in some roles. Employers generally run pilots before committing to a permanent four-day week so that workers and management can work out how to make it a success in every area.
So far, the public sector has been slow to take up the four-day week, partly because of opposition from the previous Tory government. South Cambridgeshire District Council has been leading the way and the results so far are excellent. This is being followed up with a wider pilot with councils this year.
TfGM should be a forward-looking employer, rather than having a longer working-week than many other organisations. A four-day week could help TfGM reduce colleague turnover and absence rates, two of the targets in its People Plan, as well as helping to recruit great staff externally when we need to and contributing to TfGM’s environmental goals.