Is a four-day week good for Brighton business?

Last week I attended the Chamber’s first in-person Big Debate since Covid. The topic being debated was whether a four-day week would be good for Brighton. The room was buzzing with interesting conversations as many of us mingled over a glass of wine for the first time in a very long time.

The panellists were Dr Charlotte Rae (a psychologist from University of Sussex), Kate Bell (from the Trade Union Congress), and two local business leaders – Luke Taylor from UnitedUs and Jon Silver from JFDI Consulting. The debate was chaired by Richard Freeman from always possible.

The audience reflected the diversity of the Chamber’s membership - with leaders from a range of industries, the public sector and the charity sector, as well as staff and students from Brighton Girls, where the event was hosted.

Benefits and costs of a four-day week?

There were many potential benefits of moving to a four-day week that emerged out of the debate, and in particular from Dr Rae, who has researched the outcomes of many four-day week trials around the world. These ranged from increased wellbeing outside of work to improved performance, engagement, teamwork and customer care, as well as public health and environmental benefits.

According to studies into existing initiatives, most people spent the extra time they were gifted with their family, volunteering for a charity, doing hobbies or exercising. All of these activities boost wellbeing and public health.

Other interesting benefits discussed included working smarter and shifting the focus from inputs to outputs, staff becoming more creative due to the wider experiences they enjoy on their fifth day (something Luke Taylor found from trialling a four-day week in his company), and the boost to the local economy when employees spend in shops and cafes on their day off.

There were concerns raised about the financial cost of the change, particularly for charities and certain sectors such as social care, which are already at crisis point. But some proposed that these costs would be offset by the savings in recruitment costs due to increased staff retention (at a time when many businesses are facing challenging staff shortages).

I noticed that most table discussions were centred around how a four-day week could be introduced, rather than whether it should be. I think the why argument had already been won for most people. This could be because we were a like-minded bunch - Brightonians who are usually at the progressive end of change. The concerns raised were mostly about the how. The practicalities of paying people the same amount for reduced hours, particularly in sectors that are already over-stretched.

There were also questions about how the day off would be organised so that the wheels don’t fall off. Luke Taylor pointed out that “a four-day week doesn’t mean a four-day business.” As a business owner who has (successfully) trialled the four-day week, he proposed that seven-day businesses could still do it. He described how “it’s already complex” for organisations working with shift patterns and rotas.

How to bring about culture change?

There was an interesting discussion on the stage and on the tables about whether a four-day week should be legislated. Most present, if not all, wanted to see cultural change in terms of working practices. Some, including Jon Silver, argued for choice, both for employers and employees. Others felt that legislation would bring about cultural change. As Kate Bell put it: “sometimes businesses need a shove to do the right thing.”

One thing that Jon Silver put forward, that everyone seemed to agree on, was that employees should be treated like capable adults, and that trust is key to a strong employer-employee relationship.

There was also a strong theme around consulting and listening to employees, and around giving people more control over their working lives. Panellists and audience alike said that employees need to be asked what they want, and that they will then come up with the best solutions.

Not a panacea…

Panellists also seemed to agree that the four-day working week is not a panacea. There are many issues that need addressing. The epidemic of low pay in the UK, underfunded and undervalued services such as social care, burnt out staff, zero hours contracts, inflexible companies and presenteeism.

We discussed how the separation between work and rest is becoming increasingly blurred. (Kate Bell cited a recent CIPD survey which found that people are increasingly struggling to switch off from work since Covid, now that they’re working from home more).

As Jon Silver put it – “we need to change the way we think about work.”

So what did we all agree on?

Here are three things that I think everyone agreed on:

• That people are an organisation’s best asset
• That wider cultural change is needed, in terms of how employees are valued and rewarded
• That employees need to be consulted about the best way to introduce changes such as this

Some take-aways for Brighton businesses

Here are three take-aways…

Firstly, we need to be clear on what problem we are trying to solve. UnitedUs employs a lot of parents, so for Luke, the main problem he wanted to address was the ghost hours staff were working during lockdown, due to home-schooling. If we don’t know what problem we’re tackling, we’ll struggle to find the right solution.

Secondly, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work. Rosie McColl, Head of Brighton Girls, closed the event with a story from Greek mythology. Procrustes was a rogue metal smith and bandit who attacked people by stretching them or cutting off their legs, to force them to fit the size of an iron bed. An arbitrary, one-size-fits-all Procrustean approach may well do more harm than good.

Thirdly, don’t let overwhelm around the practicalities stop you from doing something, however small. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Consult your staff. Listen to their ideas. Learn from others who have tried it. If a four-day week isn’t doable at the moment, what about giving your employees an hour back? And start with a trial. As Dr. Rae pointed out, trialling it removes a lot of the risk and it provides more data for others, both in Brighton and nationally.

To conclude...

We’ve seen rapid and dramatic changes in working practices since Covid which we couldn’t have imagined two years ago. Kate Bell described the UK’s journey from a six-day working week to a five-day working week, which the TUC campaigned for, and which felt impossible and completely impractical to many at the time.

I left the event inspired by what’s possible. Particularly here in Brighton, which someone on the night described as ‘a safe space to experiment’ due to its radical tradition.

As Kate Bell said: “Change only comes about when we make it happen.”

Dr Charlotte Rae is running a new research project to help businesses trial a four-day week. You'll get support implementing the change, and the University will track the impact on your business, and employees. 

Find out more about the trial, and register your interest here. 

Beccie D’Cunha is the Founder of Courage Lab, which supports leaders and teams across sectors to have courageous conversations and to build courageous relationships and workplaces. Beccie runs a Courageous Leaders programme, facilitates team-building workshops, mediates conflicts within teams, and coaches leaders and teams to have healthy conflict and to build strong workplace relationships, using a psychometric tool called Lumina Spark. Find out more on her website.

You can find out more about the Big Debate, and read about our past Big Debates, here.

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