The government has announced its intention to consider implementing enhanced rights for workers to ask to work a four day week instead of the standard five day working week. This has hit the news headlines and has caused significant alarm amongst business organisations.
There has been talk for some time of the possibility of a four day working week becoming standard and a number of businesses have already trialled it. It appears that it may be more suitable in certain sectors rather than others. In some sectors it might not be workable at all, unless the workforce can be fitted into a shift pattern that enables them to work longer days for four days a week instead of standard days for five days. Of course, some staff might want to continue working 5 days a week rather than having to work longer days.
Employment lawyers are currently unclear on how drastic a change this is going to be. The reason for uncertainty is that the right for workers to request flexible working already exists, which includes a potential request to work four days instead of five days and to increase the working hours over those four days. Other than making bold headlines, it is therefore unclear what additional rights workers are going to be granted under the proposed reforms.
One possibility is that it will be made more difficult for employers to reject the request than is the case under existing flexible working legislation. Currently employers have the right to turn down a request on certain prescribed statutory grounds that are set out in the flexible working legislation.
The practical issue for business owners is likely to be whether the changes improve productivity. If it can be shown that the productivity of the workforce is enhanced by the workers performing their duties over four days instead of five days, and if the quality of the service and ability to meet customer demand is not adversely affected, then it is possible that this will become the norm in years to come.
What is clear is that any new legislation will need to be clearly thought out and consultation must take place with all affected parties, including trade unions and business leaders, to ensure that the legislation that is produced is workable and fit for purpose.
It is very much a case of “watch this space!” until we have more specific details of the proposals for the right to work a 4 day week. At this point, the announcement is more likely to grab headlines rather than to signal dramatic changes to employment law.