Better equality? How a 4-day working week might just help

Does a 4-day working week appeal to you? Wondering if there really are benefits or if it’s just an excuse for people to put their feet up? In this post, Laura Drury explores how the 4-day week might improve equality and mental health.

Let’s start with the benefits and pitfalls of a 4-day working week

There are many important awareness days in March, including National Careers Week, International Women’s Day, International Day of Happiness (a Laughology fave) and, of course, World Book Day! (As anyone who’s made a costume for it, and is recovering from the stress, will know)

As I mulled over which of these to focus on for my next blog, a ‘What if...?’ sprang to mind. What if I incorporate all these days within one topic? A popular one that’s been in the news of late is the benefits of a 4-day week.

But how on earth could a 4-day working week help with careers, equality, happiness, and books? Well, I’m glad you asked… 

What are the benefits of a 4-day week?

Many blogs describe both the benefits and pitfalls, like this one, for example. 

Suggested pros:

• Increased productivity levels
• Increased motivation
• More time spent with loved ones and doing hobbies
• Fewer health problems etc

…and cons:

• Could lead to longer working hours when you do work
• Doesn’t suit every business model
• Difficult to sustain

But how could the 4-day week improve gender equality, brighter career prospects and happiness?

Let’s start with Dads.

A 4-day working week and equality

With a weekday off, fathers would have the opportunity to share the childcare/school drop off and pick up with their partners, allowing them to be more present in their children’s lives. This would benefit women, too, giving them more opportunities to work full-time and take a stab at promotions that they might have otherwise discounted.

Could this lead to fairer pay? If all genders work the same amount of hours weekly and progress equally, it might lead to a level playing field in earnings. Shifting to a 4-day week would mean a cultural change, but if all genders had the same opportunities. As a result, it would have a positive impact on equality.

Culturally, we expect the mother to take maternity leave and the father continues working. Indeed the difference between paternity leave and maternity leave in the UK is not insignificant! How can there be equality if opportunities for parents of any gender aren’t the same? Perhaps if we shifted to a 4-day working week, this might lead to us thinking about the role of a parent in the workplace, too, rather than just a mother.

It isn’t just about families with children, though. With an ever-increasing ageing population and the unrealistic demand on public health services, it will fall upon relatives to support their parents, grandparents etc., for care. Might a more extended weekend enable us to care for our loved ones better too?

The aftermath of COVID has left most working longer hours and subsequently re-evaluating their lives. There’s no doubt that the balance needs to be redressed. If and when that happens, might the 4-day working week work? 

It was John Boot’s (chairman of the Boots corporation) foresight and courage that led to him reducing his factory workers’ hours to 5 days instead of 6 (on the same pay). He did this to avoid making anyone redundant, and as a result, it led to happier, more motivated staff. That, in turn, led to us all having a weekend. Thank you, Mr Boot! 

How does this benefit career prospects?

If the 4-day week led to greater equality in terms of pay, opportunity, and a shift in society’s perception of how to support families, I have no doubt that career prospects for students would seem much more attractive. And it’s safe to say that all the above, and the resulting benefits for wellbeing and mental health, could only make us happier.

But what about World Book Day?

Well, an extra day in the week means we might actually be able to buy (oops, I mean make) those costumes in the daytime instead of pricking our fingers whilst sewing them late into the night. 

And who knows? If we could change our working culture and belief system to working just four days, we might even make it into our children’s history books!

If you’re recovering from the stress of World Book Day or any other work-related stress and would like to be better equipped to manage it, come along to our free public webinar on The Stress Effect about how to manage stress positively.