Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Labour announced a raft of proposals during its party conference this year, including a reduction in the standard working week to 32 hours (four days) within the next decade.
The four-day working week isn’t a new idea, but it still sparks as much debate as ever.
Some see it as the panacea to our continuing productivity issues. In Britain we’ve long been lagging behind, which seems unusual as we have some of the longest working hours in Europe. Not by a huge amount, though – 42.5 hours a week versus 41.2 hours across the continent on average.
It then makes sense that most of the country’s workers would like to see a shorter working week.
YouGov research shows that 63pc of British people are in favour; we’re among the most enthusiastic of the seven nations surveyed (Britain, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway). Additionally, almost a third (31pc) think it would make us more prosperous, compared to 19pc who believe the opposite (34pc say it would make no difference). Meanwhile, 45pc believe four-day weeks would make us more productive, compared to 21pc who think we’d be less productive.
The most striking stat is how much happier it

Read more...

Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Labour announced a raft of proposals during its party conference this year, including a reduction in the standard working week to 32 hours (four days) within the next decade.
The four-day working week isn’t a new idea, but it still sparks as much debate as ever.
Some see it as the panacea to our continuing productivity issues. In Britain we’ve long been lagging behind, which seems unusual as we have some of the longest working hours in Europe. Not by a huge amount, though – 42.5 hours a week versus 41.2 hours across the continent on average.
It then makes sense that most of the country’s workers would like to see a shorter working week.
YouGov research shows that 63pc of British people are in favour; we’re among the most enthusiastic of the seven nations surveyed (Britain, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway). Additionally, almost a third (31pc) think it would make us more prosperous, compared to 19pc who believe the opposite (34pc say it would make no difference). Meanwhile, 45pc believe four-day weeks would make us more productive, compared to 21pc who think we’d be less productive.
The most striking stat is how much happier it

Read more...