Four-day working week could be new normal after Covid, says review chief

Long working hours
Joe Giddens/PA Wire

Britons could find themselves working just four days a week as the country navigates the “new normal” following the pandemic, according a review chief looking into government workplace.

Chairman of the Flexible Working Taskforce, Peter Cheese, believes the UK should “move away” from the 9 to 5 culture to embrace flexible and balanced working.

Mr Cheese was optimistic about the idea of four day working weeks.

“If I said something was going to change, maybe […] what we refer to as the standard five-day working week — that’s what will begin to change. And it could emerge in lots of different forms, one of which could be a four-day working week,” he said.

In an interview with Politico, he was asked about the plans his taskforce have for employment once Brits get back to working without restrictions.

The head of industry group the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development added: “There are a variety of mechanisms by which you can support people in these more flexible ways of working, which can be helpful in terms of inclusion and wellbeing and balance of life.”

He also reassured readers the government was dedicated to a “default” right to flexible working, as pledged in the Conservative manifesto.

But Mr Cheese warned any change would come from “emergent practice”.

He added: “In other words, organisations starting to do things like that, rather than government edicts.”

His comments come at a time when his force is assessing the legal consequences of employment post-Covid.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in