Companies that do not adopt flexible working will struggle to hire in the next five years, according to an entrepreneur who is hoping to be a Tory mayoral candidate.
Natalie Campbell, co-chief executive of Belu Water, is due to speak at a cross-party event hosted by the 4 Day Week Campaign on Tuesday when it will publish its mini-manifesto.
She said: “I think the world has changed post-pandemic. People absolutely recognise that being visible, being seen at a desk, literally at the desk in front of a screen, does not deliver or make for a fully productive workforce.”
Under a four-day working week employees would have their working hours cut by 20%, bringing them down to about 28 hours a week, with no reduction in pay.
The 4 Day Week Campaign and a number of thinktanks are calling in advance of the election for parties to back policies that would help deliver flexible working patterns for employees.
These include reducing the maximum working week, changing official flexible working guidance, establishing a fund to support companies, launching a public sector pilot, and establishing a working time council.
The mini-manifesto argues that British workers put in some of the longest full-time working hours in Europe, but the UK still has one of the least productive economies.
Campbell said: “There are multiple reasons why productivity isn’t where it should be. Not embracing more innovative ways of working is definitely a contributor.”
She added: “I think people have recognised that trying to shoehorn 19th-century Industrial Revolution-style ways of working on to jobs that go from knowledge economy right through to manufacturing and then through to the care system doesn’t work.
“We need to recognise that people do vastly different jobs and therefore need working patterns that enable the economy to work in a much more modern, contemporary way.”
Advocates of the four-day week say the 9-5, five-day working week is outdated and no longer fit for purpose. According to its proponents, the concept of “the weekend” was invented more than a century ago and so Britain is overdue an update to its working hours.
However, critics say a four-day week would mean businesses may expect their employees to compress the same hours into fewer days.
Joe Ryle, the director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, said: “We live in a country which could be called Burnout Britain. We work some of the longest hours in the world, some of the longest in Europe, whilst also having one of the least productive economies.
“We have this mentality where so much of our life is defined by work.”
Although no country has fully adopted a four-day week, some are experimenting with one or have policies that allow for flexible working, including South Africa, Belgium, Iceland and Japan.
The shift towards flexible working has been suggested more regularly in recent years – Labour included plans for a 32-hour working week with no loss of pay in its 2019 general election manifesto.
Campbellsaid a cultural shift was needed. “Ultimately, the companies that are offering flexibility, that are thinking about new ways of creating opportunities for teams to work, both from home over four days on a rota pattern, will thrive because they’ve got engaged teams that are retaining people, that are hiring the best talent, and ultimately they’re more productive.”
Since December 2022, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have been trialling a four-day working week for staff directly employed by the party.
A party spokesperson said: “We are continuing to evaluate the findings of the pilot so that these can be shared and drawn on in other parts of the organisation, where appropriate.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats are calling on the Scottish government to bring forward long-overdue proposals and launch the pilot it announced in September 2021. It’s critical that we do everything we can to support fair working practices and flexible working arrangements.”
