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Saturday, June 1, 2019
The call for a change in the UK’s core working week has been made by the Trades Unions Congress (TUC) and increasingly businesses are giving this controversial option serious consideration. Biomedical research charity The Wellcome Trust announced at the beginning of the year that their 800 staff located at their head office would see their working week reduced to four days by giving them all a free Friday.
This announcement of the consideration of such a move came as a shock to many but raised expectations that if such a large organisation could make it work, the momentum for a wider take up would follow. Having given the prospect of the shorter week, without reducing pay further thought and consulting with staff, the charity reversed their decision. The reasons given were many and varied but in essence the practicalities of making such a change appeared to present more difficulties and issues than the expected benefits they had hoped to realise. The problems included part-time workers worried about child care arrangements, others anxious that they’d simply have far greater workloads on the days they were present, a common concern.
The TUC began campaigning for a four-day week at the end of 2018. The argument for the reduced working week centred on research suggesting, unsurprisingly, over 50% of UK workers wanted it. Their demands may however have just cause in that UK workers do rank highly in the league table of nations who work the longest hours. We’re currently third in the EU table, behind Austria and Greece. The TUC’s research identified that a stunning number of 1.4m workers in the UK work a seven-day week!
Plymouth based Law firm, Portcullis Legals, recently announced it had moved to four days a week and at the same time, to reassure staff, they gave their employees a pay rise. Their analysis of other businesses who’ve taken the bold move had persuaded the owners that such as step would raise morale, productivity, reduce sick days and help with retention and recruitment.
The four-day week can be accommodated far more easily by the service sector but less so for public sector organisations such as health, emergency services, manufacturing or retail where losing a day in the week would have a major negative impact. That’s not to say individual workers couldn’t be contracted to work less hours but as yet we are some way from achieving the “tipping point” of organisations applying the reduced working term.
Those who have adopted the shorter week report a range of benefits which include that of increased productivity which they attribute to a happier, less stressed workforce who have three days off and four days at work. In sectors where attracting talent is a challenge being an early adopter of the four-day week can obviously help. If pay is on a par with a traditional five-day a week role, why wouldn’t you take the four-day option?
We may be some years away from any radical UK wide move to a reduced working week, but the Government will need to give the matter serious thought if the current trend gathers greater traction and the results prove positive. The alternative may be a two-tier workforce those who have the benefit and those stuck with a traditional five-day week.
Tips
With each organisation having its own unique set of needs, compliances and commercial priorities it’s impossible to set a “one size” solution. Here are a few suggestions if you are considering changing the working week.
- Be mindful of raising expectations before making a firm decision. The Wellcome Trusts announcement was somewhat premature and no doubt disappointed a large number of their 800 staff when it wasn’t implemented.
- Costs, look at the financial model and the affordability of adopting a reduced working week and how that impacts income and where costs may be saved.
- Research the impact on similar businesses and if possible, discuss the process with them, what lessons they learnt, what they might do differently.
- Evaluate the impact on customers, if closed on a Friday would that potentially damage existing or prospective business opportunities?
- Ensure all working arrangements are considered including part time, casual or remote workers and that if implementing there is an answer to staff queries or at the very least an opportunity for concerns to be voiced and managed.
- One of the most common concerns is that workloads simply build up during the fewer days staff are engaged. Where possible combine any such move with support offered via time management training, introduction of technology to aid productivity and an increased level of attention on staff well-being, picking up on any signs of increased stress.
Written by Robert Gibson, Senior Consultant - Employment Law
Robert is a Senior Consultant at Samuel Phillips and specialises in employment and business matters. He advises in relation to employment and shareholder disputes, including pensions and related issues.
