Inevitability of four-day week should be embraced, Labour MP says

The “inevitable” transition to a four-day working week should be embraced, a Labour MP has said, as he urged the Government “not to make an enemy of progress”.

Peter Dowd said a four-day week could lead to more productivity, with employees less likely to experience burnout.

Speaking during the Employment Rights Bill report stage, the MP for Bootle accepted it would be “challenging” but said the discussion must be had, with the move to a five-day week occurring over a century ago.

“Meanwhile, France, Italy, Spain, enjoyed a 10% decline in working hours. Yet despite people in this country working longer hours than our competitors or partners, as a nation we’re one of the least productive in the G7, and we’ve got to do something about that.”

He added: “71% in that study reported reduced levels of burn-out, 54% said it was easier to balance household responsibilities, 6% found an increased ability to combine paid-work with care responsibilities, 62% reported it was easier to combine work with social life, and so on, and so on, and so on.

“So what it seeks to do is to put the issue, as I said, on the agenda, because I believe it is inevitable.

“History shows us that changes in patterns of work, working arrangements, the nature of work, and other associated issues, AI (artificial intelligence), will eventually lead to a four-day week over a period of time.

“So let’s embrace the change, let’s plan for the change.

“If we do want to get the country back to work, if we do want to get the country working productively, if we do want to get many millions of people without work back into work, well let’s do it as progressively as we possibly can.

“Finally, if lengthening the time we’re asking people to work by an extra year, two years, three years maybe in the future, the least we can do, if we’re asking them to work a longer life, is to ask them to have a shorter week – what’s wrong with that?

“And is that really too much to ask? I don’t think so, and many more employers and employees take the same view. So let’s not make an enemy of progress, why don’t we just embrace it?”

He said the Council would compose of businesses, trade unions, government departments and experts on the subject.

These would advise the Secretary of State on how a transition would impact employers and employees and “how businesses, public bodies and other organisations should approach such a transition”, he said.

Mr Dowd added: “My aim in introducing this new clause is to try and get the debate about the four-day week off the blocks. I accept that the notion is a challenging one but it’s not a reason to put off the debate, the discussion has to be had.

“It’s over a hundred years since the introduction of a five-day week in different industries.”