Here in the UK, there have been plenty of changes to working practices in recent years. Most widespread was the home working revolution brought about by the pandemic, which has normalised remote and hybrid working at a pace that no one could have foreseen.

However, across Europe and beyond, further changes have been taking place, in the widespread trialling of the four-day working week. The concept has been around for several years but has gained traction during the pandemic. Countries such as Spain, Iceland, and Belgium have all recently experimented with shorter working hours.

There have also been trials in Scotland and Ireland, but England and Wales appear to be reluctant to participate so far. iNews reported that think-tank Autonomy is campaigning for a shorter working week without loss of pay, after studying 50,000 firms, and finding that higher productivity or raised prices would ensure they could cope.

One English company who have made the switch is Target Publishing, based in Hertfordshire. Initially, staff took a 20% pay cut, but after three months, the firm found it was on an even keel financially and was able to keep the four-day week while reinstating previous levels of pay.

MD David Cann said: “It’s a great incentive for everyone to complete work by Thursday, knowing that Friday is now an extended weekend, every week. Motivation is better, efficiencies have increased and so has a profit.”

Staff motivation is not the only benefit of fewer hours at work. HR News reports on another of the major reasons that companies are looking to adopt shorter working weeks: many jobs that once had to be carried out by humans can now be automated.

Administrative roles, such as records clerks, typists, and bookkeepers, have all been speeded up by automated processes over the past decade, and there is less need for staff to carry out routine and repetitive tasks. This means that employees in these roles could potentially work fewer hours without harming the productivity of the business.

A further argument for the four-day week was recently put forward by the Financial Times. The process of working—commuting, consuming, and creating—all uses up valuable resources while pumping more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Richer nations are particularly culpable when it comes to CO2 emissions, due to higher productivity levels.

Therefore, reducing the amount of time we spend at work seems to be a logical step in mitigating the effects of climate change, which creep uncomfortably closer with each season.

The article points out that most methods of tackling climate change oblige people to give up favourite activities, such as travelling, holidays, cars, takeaways, and fashion shopping, whereas by reducing working hours, people may gain something more precious: time to spend with friends and family or to pursue their own interests.

The Dutch already have an average working week of 30.3 hours, according to the FT. Maybe it’s time to acknowledge that ever-increasing productivity is no longer the main aim and shift the focus to employee well-being and work-life balance. The big question we would be asking is – “Could the four-day workweek become the new global standard?“

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