{"id":5941,"date":"2025-05-18T05:13:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T21:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cicserver.com\/will-britain-have-a-four-day-week-in-five-years\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T05:13:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T21:13:58","slug":"will-britain-have-a-four-day-week-in-five-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cicserver.com\/de\/will-britain-have-a-four-day-week-in-five-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Britain have a four-day week in five years?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/2SmzGfQjNTfbajf3PuRfpF.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Will a four-day workweek be the norm in Britain by the end of the decade? A majority of UK workers surveyed predict that could indeed be the case.<\/p>\n<p>Research by hybrid meeting company Owl Labs showed that 83% of those polled believe a <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.itpro.com\/business\/careers-and-training\/can-the-four-day-week-work-for-tech\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.itpro.com\/business\/careers-and-training\/can-the-four-day-week-work-for-tech\">four-day week<\/a> will be more popular by 203, with nine out of ten younger workers agreeing \u2013 and many saying they expect it to overtake the five-day model.<\/p>\n<aside data-block-type=\"embed\" data-render-type=\"fte\" data-skip=\"dealsy\" data-widget-type=\"seasonal\" class=\"hawk-base\"\/>\n<p>The results come as some companies introduce <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.itpro.com\/business\/business-strategy\/what-are-return-to-office-mandates-rto\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.itpro.com\/business\/business-strategy\/what-are-return-to-office-mandates-rto\">return to office<\/a> (RTO) mandates to force workers back into a pre-pandemic style of working with five full days in the office, rather than a hybrid model with some days in office and others at home.<\/p>\n<p>According to this survey, eight in ten UK workers under such stricter in-office mandates say they&#8217;re looking for a new role, which Owl Labs says is a clear sign that rigid policies may be driving talent away.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, in response, 40% of staff surveyed say that under such mandates they are &#8220;working to rule&#8221; \u2013 only performing the basic tasks of their job rather than taking on additional responsibilities \u2013 with younger workers more likely to take such action. Another 27% say they have booked out time in their calendar to avoid colleagues or clients from taking over their calendar with meetings.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The rise of flexible working trends such as the four-day week and &#8216;working-to-rule&#8217; show that the traditional nine-to-five no longer makes the cut,&#8221; said Frank Weishaupt, CEO, Owl Labs. &#8220;It&#8217;s crucial to recognize that more hours doesn&#8217;t always lead to greater productivity, nor does forcing strict in-office attendance \u2013 it&#8217;s about how effectively those hours are used, not where they are spent.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He added: &#8220;As organizations look to attract and retain talent in a competitive market, flexible models like the four-day week are already shifting from experiment to expectation. For many, the question is no longer if \u2013 but when.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"slice-container-newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-JMFwYEQ9Q7Np5GqquWYMZZ\" class=\"slice-container newsletter-inbodyContent-slice newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-JMFwYEQ9Q7Np5GqquWYMZZ slice-container-newsletterForm\">\n<div data-hydrate=\"true\" class=\"newsletter-form__wrapper newsletter-form__wrapper--inbodyContent\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-form__container\">\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__top-bar\"\/>\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__main-section\">\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report &#8211; the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The survey also suggests as many as half (48%) of companies are now offering a four-day working week; though that certainly sounds high, many companies are offering staff the right to request flexible working patterns such as nine-day fortnights or four-day weeks at less pay, or longer days throughout the week in order to have Fridays off, for example.<\/p>\n<p>That isn&#8217;t quite what is meant when referring to a four-day work week, which is generally intended to happen without any loss of pay or increase of hours on other days.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"four-day-benefits-3\">Four-day benefits<\/h2>\n<p>The survey suggested the usual list of expected benefits from a <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.itpro.com\/business\/business-strategy\/the-benefits-of-a-four-day-week-in-tech\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.itpro.com\/business\/business-strategy\/the-benefits-of-a-four-day-week-in-tech\">four-day week<\/a>: about three quarters of those polled said they expected such a setup would improve their work-life balance, offer more time for personal development, and lead to greater job satisfaction. Two-thirds expected to have the same productivity, getting done the same in four days as five.<\/p>\n<p>There are some concerns, however. The survey showed six in ten respondents were worried about having to work longer hours during the days they are in the office, and 38% said there might be an impact on customer service.<\/p>\n<p>The survey follows extensive trials around the four-day week. One campaign backing the shift to a shorter week revealed earlier this year that 200 UK firms have now adopted a formal four-day working week, with its own survey echoing these results that Brits believe it will be the norm by 2030.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Will a four-day workweek be the norm in Britain by the end of the decade? A majority of UK workers surveyed predict that could indeed be the case. Research by hybrid meeting company Owl Labs showed that 83% of those polled believe a four-day week will be more popular by 203, with nine out of [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cicserver.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cicserver.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cicserver.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cicserver.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cicserver.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cicserver.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cicserver.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cicserver.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cicserver.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cicserver.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}