The Future of Work: a 4-day Working Week

We didn't always work a 5-day week, it wasn't until the first part of the 20th Century that it was introduced. It was only after the two World Wars that Britain saw their working week reduce from 7 days, to 6 and then to 5. History would suggest that natural progression would've landed us a 4-day working week years ago, so why is it still viewed as a leftist utopia? 

History would also suggest that shorter working times have come about during and after a crisis world wars being the last two major catalysts. The COVID-Crisis has already put into question how we work, where we work, for how long and what counts as valuable work.  Is this the catalyst needed to get a shorter working week put into motion? Our guest Will Stronge certainly believes so. He argues that the 4-day working week would help reconstruct the economy following the crisis through retention and recruitment of staff, enhanced leisure time boosting demand and boosts in productivity.

In this episode, Andrew and Cindy are in conversation with Will about the 4-day working week.  They touch upon:

The history of the 4-day working weekFair sharing of workThe Automation ArgumentHow do we get there? Progressive policiesGovernment influence and interventionWhat the future of work looks like post-covid

Will Stronge is co-director of Autonomy, an independent think tank focusing on issues relating to the future of work. He is the co-author, with Kyle Lewis, of the forthcoming book – Overtime: why we need shorter working weeks (Verso, 2021)

Get in contact with the team at Autonomy email [email protected]

Access the work Autonomy are doing visit https://autonomy.work/

Access the "Time for Change" report mentioned in the episode here

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@Autonomy_UK

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