A Labour MP is tabling a bill which advocates for the four-day work, saying that Brits work some of the longest hours in Europe.
Peter Dowd, the MP for Bootle in Merseyside, argued for working hours to be reduced from 40 to 32, and parliamentary time has been secured for the bill to be discussed in the House of Commons next month.
’I am introducing this legislation because we’re long overdue a shorter working week,’ said Dowd. ’In the UK, workers put in some of the longest working hours across Europe while pay and productivity remains low in comparison.
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’In numerous examples across the world the four-day week with no loss of pay has been shown to boost productivity and the wellbeing of workers.’
The move comes after a four-day week trial, run by non-profit 4 Day Week Global alongside the Autonomy think tank and researchers at Boston College Oxford and Cambridge, found that 9 in 10 companies participating had a positive experience half-way through.
Almost all of the 41 companies that responded to the survey reporting successful outcomes so far. Several firms said their employees had become more productive as they sought to use their time better. One company even said it saw a 44 percent rise in profits in the first three months of the study.
ICYMI: nine in ten firms on the four-day working week trial have given it the thumbs-up.
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