A four-day working week is being trialed throughout the UK with 60 firms taking part.
However, this 'new way of working' has been adopted by a number of companies in Scotland already.
One of which is YWCA Scotland - The Young Women's Movement, based in Glasgow.
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Elena Soper 30, is the National Programmes Manager of YWCA and spoke to Glasgow Live about the "life-changing" move to a four-day week.
YWCA Scotland is a charity that works towards creating an equal society for all self-identifying women. After becoming an independent charity last year, one of the first things they did was move to a four day week following discussions with colleagues.
While not losing any pay, Elena can now enjoy an extra day off and has said she finds herself procrastinating less at work and is more well rested.
She said: "I have a lot more time to switch off from work. I think having that extra day, really gives me that opportunity to rest, to focus on things that exist outside the work bubble. I know some people who have been able to do freelance work on the other days, some people work in kind of other jobs, some do volunteering, others just use it to rest and to catch up on chores.
"But I think what's great about it is that freedom, that it is an extra day, that we can really do whatever we want. And if we need a day where we just stay in bed - enjoy that."
The idea of a four-day working week can lead to the question of pay. If you are working less, will you earn less? At YWCA, Elena explains that no one has taken a pay cut and argues that even though she still work the nine to five, she isn't cramming five days worth of work into four. Instead she is just "working smarter".
"I'm still producing the same quality of work, right? All of my targets are the same, all of my outcomes are the same. The expectation on me hasn't changed. I just need to work a little bit smarter and manage my time better. My workload hasn't reduced. So in that way, why would I take a pay cut? Because I'm still expected to work to the same standard and to deliver the same things", Elena said.
She goes on to explain the hours of working: "Our full time hours are 28 hours a week. So everyone still receives the full time wage. If you're part time, it's based on 20 hours.
"I think that as a society, we're very obsessed with the amount of time that we have to spend working, whereas we should really be more focused on the output. We can deliver everything that we can deliver in as good a way as we've ever been able to in four days. So it makes complete sense."
As more companies adopt the four-day working week, the Programmes Manager admitted that her main concern is that firms might take that opportunity to keep staff later in the evenings.
She said: "If we're going to do a four day week, this shouldn't be compressed hours, we shouldn't be trying to fit the same amount of hours in a five day weekend to four days, because that's not a four day week. A four day week is less hours, that is the whole point of it. That would be my only worry - that some people would end up working till eight or six when they should be nine to five."
She acknowledged, however, that not every sector is as straight forward, especially if you are shift-based.
Elena added: "To make that change, I understand it's more difficult in other sectors. So thinking about hospitality and shift-based work, I do understand that it's more difficult to make that transition. But if you're working in an office job, there's really no reason not to even consider it.
"I feel much more productive in my four days than I did over five days. Fridays were almost like a wasted day for me. It was the day that I did all my nonsense admin stuff. I feel I value my time more and I'm more productive. I procrastinate less, am more well rested and I have a better work life balance."
Elena also mentioned the importance of flexible working as well as the four-day week adding: "I certainly haven't seen like any downsides at all. We've been reviewing it in terms of how it works for practice. And certainly there's been no negative effects on any of our work."
Looking towards the future, Elena encourages other companies to take up the four day week and believes it will lead to happier staff who will be less likely to look elsewhere for work.
She said: "I would just encourage organisations to give it a go and see how they can make it work. Because I think they'll find that it's certainly got positive benefits. Honestly it's life changing."
What do you think of the four-day working week? Let us know in the comments.
