Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Three or four day working week, who’s ready for it?

42 replies

Gandalfatemyhamster · 01/05/2025 01:02

I think we need some adjustment to prevent either full scale rebellion or the MH crisis getting worse and worse.
I can’t see how a three day week would work unless we all spent much more in shops/ restaurants/ cafes, thus propping up the industries currently taking a hit due to COL.
Everyone around me is at breaking point.

OP posts:
LoudSnoringDog · 01/05/2025 04:14

Why is everyone around you at “breaking point “?

What jobs do they do?

Bjorkdidit · 01/05/2025 05:17

I can’t see how a three day week would work unless we all spent much more in shops/ restaurants/ cafes, thus propping up the industries currently taking a hit due to COL

???? Confused

EleanorReally · 01/05/2025 05:20

i work 4 days a week and do not frequent cafes

beezlebubnicky · 01/05/2025 05:45

If you're talking about the four day week, be clear - it's four days a week for same pay as a five day week with a reduction in hours. The current governments attempt to obscure the discussion on this by equating it with a compressed hours 4 day week, which is not the same, is quite irritating.

I don't really know what you mean re: mental health? Surely it would improve things for people. I don't think everyone would have to work the same four days hence work could be covered. Cambridgeshire Council did a successful pilot of it and many other companies are going to trial it, I believe. Interested to see the results, but as someone who works for the government, hell will freeze over before they let civil servants do it as they're ideological about it.

Blackbookofsmiles1 · 01/05/2025 05:50

Was supposed to be 80% work- 4 days, for 100% pay, now it’s being tuned into 100% work in 4 days as longer hours, no thanks.

Why can’t anything get better? Why can there be no meaningful improvements to lives or for the next generation, everything just gets worse!

We all know people will compress the hours to a 4 day week, then be expected to work the 5th day “if you need more money” for the COL crisis. We all know it’s going that way! Anything to get more tax from the working.

frozendaisy · 01/05/2025 06:08

Would rather keep 5 days on 120% pay if that’s the choice.

How would this work for schools? Would they close different day each week? Or the same day?

It won’t mean more money, businesses will have to employ x2 people to cover the job of one (in a 3 day scenario), so say you get a day extra off and you think “I’ll sort out car insurance” but you can’t do that because there is no one to answer the phones that day.

Electric generation will still be needed 24/7 so energy companies need to employ more people so inevitably the bill goes up.

So people can have an extra day at home, paying more out, business open/shut on random days, people seeing bills rise with no money for distraction, how will that help MH crisis?

What about MH health professionals? Do they get a 4 day week? So the waits get longer for help?

Everyone will expect the services they need to still be available full time OP. It won’t be some 3 day weekend utopia. It will be a mess.

TreesOfGreen99 · 01/05/2025 06:15

Surely if you want to work 4 days then that’s what you should be paid for?
I don’t understand how companies/organisations are expected to operate at 100% on 80% work.
However I do agree that for many people a 4 day week provides better work/life balance and once you work out how much of one days pay goes on tax, NI and pension contributions, it can be quite affordable.

reinventionn · 01/05/2025 06:20

It should generate more jobs and boost the economy

i believe the point is that most people working 100% are actually able to maintain the same levels of productivity at 80% so therefore better to have a day off and get that better WLB.

Clearly it needs to be a choice individual organizations and not government-mandated.

Needlenardlenoo · 01/05/2025 06:41

Are you ready for the 20% or 40% pay cut?

Keirawr · 01/05/2025 06:44

for almost 10 million of working age, a day working week might actually help since they don’t work at all and contribute 0 to the country’s economy. While the rest pick up the slack.

So good luck trying to work less. Someone gotta pay for those that choose not to.

2in2022twoyearson · 01/05/2025 06:49

It's industry dependent based on the theory that people are more intellectually productive over 3 or 4 days. Companies need to trial it while assessing productivity then roll it out if the theory holds true for their workforce. It doesn't work for nurses, cafe workers, builders etc.

So in an industry where workers can be as productive over less days, they should keep their full salary. If it's more of an hourly pay job, then take the paycut...

JustMyView13 · 01/05/2025 07:14

4 day week would be ideal.
The point a lot of people miss, is they assume that everything else remains the same. Which isn’t the case.
Take payroll departments as an example, years ago someone would count out the wages, put them in the envelope and hand them out. There’s systems to do this now, and payroll involves much more automation. With AI, there’ll no doubt be further enhancements. And it’s these advancements that will allow us to change the way we work.
Will companies pay 100% for 80%? Well, in 2010 the min wage was £5.93. Today it is £12.21 so companies are already paying over 200% for the same hours if you think squarely by that logic.

Ablondiebutagoody · 01/05/2025 07:27

It'll happen in the public sector because many of those jobs aren't really full-time anyway. Everyone else will be fine. People have worked 5 or 6 day weeks forever without moaning about MH.

Londonrach1 · 01/05/2025 07:31

I lost a dear friend to a brain tumour about a year and a half ago. I made a decision to do something fun one day a week...I overwork on four days and my fifth I spend doing crafts at a community college with friends. It's been worth the financial hit. I feel regenerated...it's on the Friday so Thursday my last day of work. It was the best decision I made for me. My job is very intense but I love it. I just needed some me or down time.

IfIHadAHeart · 01/05/2025 08:03

I work compressed hours, on a pattern of 5 days on, 5 days off. It is shift work, and with antisocial hours. Obviously I also work long hours to cram full time hours in.

i can’t say enough how much it’s benefited my mental health to have more days off. It’s given me a good work/life balance. I have time to get things done, time to have days where I can justify doing absolutely nothing, I can take short breaks without using annual leave. It works well for spending time with the kids during school holidays, and i enjoy term time weekdays off where i can get out walking in the hills without many people about.

I will never go back to a 9-5 mon-fri.

EveryFlavourJellyBeans · 01/05/2025 08:05

I work four days a week in the public sector and do the same, or even more than my full time team members.

There's a lot of waste in the public sector.

MeetMyCat · 01/05/2025 08:07

As someone said earlier, I never know if a 4 day week means compressed hours, ie doing 5 days work across 4 days, usually meaning 4 longer days, or an 80% week.

I think keeping busy would help a lot of people with MH issues, but recognise this is an unpopular view (and also accept that some people are genuinely too ill with MH to work)

Original poster
Gandalfatemyhamster · 01/05/2025 08:07

The trials which show the benefit have been based on 4 day weeks for 5 days pay so that’s what we should try to introduce. I would expect increased productivity and less sickness which would more than make up for it. Maybe less long term sick in the future.
I actually work in MH and I see this being hugely beneficial to improving MH services. Less staff sickness, less burn out, better communication, more time to reflect on the work we’re doing, happier more refreshed workers… it would be the best risk we could take for the country’s wellbeing.

OP posts:
MidnightPatrol · 01/05/2025 08:16

I’m interested in the idea that ‘everyone around me is at breaking point’ - and this being attributed to doing 5 days a week at work.

Why do you think working 5 days a week is causing this?

I don’t think I see this really - albeit, I think having a hybrid job makes family life far more manageable excluding commuting time twice a week.

Judellie · 01/05/2025 08:16

I work 4 days a week (obviously only therefore paid for 4 days per week). Done it since 2012 and would never return to full time.

WrylyAmused · 01/05/2025 08:34

I think quite a lot of people already work 3-4 days weeks. In my team alone, of 8, 4 of us work either 3-4 days from choice. At 80/60% pay though, so it only works if you're a higher earner in that regard.

Unfortunately there isn't really the money to replicate that across all industries, and I suspect it would just lead to further downward pressure on wages, even if higher initially, they'd sink over time.

People are remarkably resistant to a lot of changes, even where benefits have been identified.

GivingUpFinally · 01/05/2025 08:43

I might be missing the point entirely...but if 80% 4day weeks are to be paid at 100%...what about those of us already on 4 days? Do we get 20% pay rise?

It won't work. Our society isn't geared to a 4 day working week overall. I suppose it could create more employment for the economy if employers need to fill the other 20% of the working week.

Original poster
Gandalfatemyhamster · 01/05/2025 09:09

@GivingUpFinallyit would have a positive impact everywhere, another day where people were spending money or caring for relatives or volunteering. Another day to mean less stuff had to be done in the evenings, which impacts on our sleep. What we know about sleep is how critical it is in preventing all sorts of health problems, particularly dementia. People might eat better, local businesses would get a boost from people actually being able to get there when they’re open. Endless possibilities.

OP posts:
RedPony1 · 01/05/2025 09:16

I work 40 hours a week over 5 days. i have a life before and after work (horses) - i couldn't do 10 hours a day, which is actually over 12 hours with lunch break and commuting. id need to be up at 4am and wouldn't get home till 9:30pm. That's far worse for my mental health!

I much prefer spreading out over the 5 days.