The 4 Day Working Week. Rhetoric or Realistic?

I recently authored a post in relation to the recent statement from the Shadow Chancellor's commitment to mandating a 4-day working week. He committed to achieving this within 10 years should labour be elected in the General Election, which he announced at the 2019 Labour conference. With the current state of British politics, you could assume that this was merely spin and political wrangling to canvas votes. To achieve this without the loss of productivity and indeed growth of the British economy would be a significant and welcomed achievement. The question is really, is it achievable?

There are, today, a number of business throughout the UK that have already achieved the 4-day working week, and have without reported loss of pay and productivity. They and their employees' highlight the benefits experienced. Employees less stressed, enjoying long weekends essentially heighten wellbeing. Whilst the businesses didn't see a drop in productivity it is highly likely these organisations already enjoyed a high level of employee engagement.

To legislate a 4-day working week will require a significant shift in what has been a down spiralling level of engagement in the UK's workforce. In the 2017 Gallup State of the Global Workforce the UK was identified as having one of the lowest engaged workforces at 11% (Italy was the lowest with 5%). 68% are not engaged and 21% actively disengaged. Now rather than growth since the 2013 Gallup Survey suggests we have gone down in engagement from 14%. So what?

If the UK workforce has continued to decrease over the past 4 years there first needs to be a real focus on engaging the workforce. I'm sure if you asked the workforce right now if a 4-day working week with no loss of pay would be favourable I'm sure they would jump at the opportunity. On the other hand, it would be the business owners who would have to bear the burden of maintaining productivity. Now Labours strapline of 'For the many, not the few, also highlights, in my view, the other significant challenge here.

Starting a business takes courage and commitment and it's no wonder when you look at the challenging statistics of business lifespans. It is suggested the 20% of new starts up will close within 12 months, 60% won't make it to 3 years and as many as 50% won't last beyond 5 years. The point here is the 'FEW' have the courage, commitment and motivation to step up and give business a go. Ultimately these few offer the many employment and livelihood. Interestingly these few also remain the busiest in their businesses. Working longer hours, being all things to all things and essentially the busiest in the business.

Whilst starting business is one thing learning business is another. One of the keys to success in any business is the team. That means you need to understand leadership and management, how to recruit and retain great people and the art of employee engagement. This is no mean feat. In fact, those business who have established the 4 day work week are likely to have achieved significant experience and expertise in all these fields. So how is the average business owner supposed to build a business with a 4-day working week, when today most businesses operate 7 days a week.

It is simply unhelpful rhetoric in my view to gain votes. What would be helpful is to determine how we can re-engage the UK workforce. How we can encourage more entrepreneurs to venture forward and start their dream business and then help them get over those perilous first few years. How we can support businesses to employ the right people, people who are happy to offer their services and performance for a fair salary. maybe focus on a UK workforce engagement program to be a world leader in work ethic.

Now there's a challenging thought

About the Author

Steve Gaskell the 'Challenge Coach' is a High-Performance Business Coach who unlocks the high-performance potential in those he coaches. Author of 'Business Shouldn't be this Tough' he is also a keynote speaker with a focus on high-performance outcomes through coaching and also creating extreme ownership within organisations. A former Army Officer Steve understands the challenge and interFEARence faced by business owners, directors and executive in leadership and confronts them head-on to focus on unleashing true potential.

If you would like to unlock the potential in your organisation, leadership, team or yourself you can message Steve via his profile, call on 01392 927997 or email on [email protected]. 

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