The idea of a universal four-day working week – with the reduction in working time intended to bolster productivity and wellbeing – is not new. In 1956 Richard Nixon argued (perhaps a little prematurely) that “the four-day work week is inevitable”; from 2007-2011 Republican politicians in Utah redefined the week for State employees as from Monday to Thursday; and in the 2017 election the Green Party included the four-day week in its manifesto, to almost universal derision.
Nonetheless, the notion has not gone away. A six-month pilot programme is being launched in the UK from June to December this year, testing the possible advantages of that short week for both employers and employees. The programme is being organised by 4 Day Week Global alongside think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign and academic researchers at Cambridge, Oxford and Boston.