Is a four-day working week the future?

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2023

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Would you like to work fewer days, but get paid the same? The biggest global trial of the four day week has just come to an end in the UK.

We hear from some of the companies who took part, including employees making the most of their extra day off, and employers looking closely at productivity figures.

It’s an idea that other countries are looking at closely, so we’ll be looking at the global implications of moving away from the traditional five days on, two days off model.

Presenter: Emma Simpson Producers: Helen Thomas and Esyllt Carr

(Image: Bethany with her dog Otis. Credit: BBC)

Transcript

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0:00.0	An original audio drama series from the BBC World Service,
0:05.0	Fukushima tells the story of the 2011 disaster
0:08.5	at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
0:12.6	We lose the Daiichi plant.
0:14.5	Then we lose Japan as we know it.
0:17.1	Listen to the series now by searching for Fukushima,
0:20.1	wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
0:27.2	Hello, I'm Emma Simpson. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC.
0:32.1	Today, how would you like to work less and get paid the same?
0:36.6	The five-day working week has been around for nearly
0:39.4	a hundred years after Henry Ford first adopted a five-day-on, two-day-off pattern for his Ford
0:46.7	Motor Company factories in the United States. But could a four-day week be just as productive?
0:54.0	When they introduced the four-day week, because we'd been through so much change and we're
0:58.5	just adapted to it, I was like, well, I'm sure I'll be able to manage it.
1:03.5	And I did feel like I'd win the lottery.
1:06.5	I bet. I bet. I bet.
1:09.2	The world's biggest trial of the four-day week has recently come to an end in the UK.
1:14.6	I'll be finding out what they learnt and whether this is a model that could be followed more globally.
1:19.6	Almost 90% of Iceland's population has moved to a shorter working week, in many cases a four-day week.
1:25.6	We're starting to see many other governments across the world looking at piloting it.
1:29.2	So in Spain, in Portugal, in Scotland, closer to home.
1:32.8	So there's going to be many, many more pilots of a four-day working week this year.
	...

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