Full-time workers’ rights to ask for a four-day working week could be strengthened under government plans to increase flexible working.
Employees would still have to work their full hours to receive their full pay but could request to compress their contracted hours into a shorter working week, according to plans first reported by the Daily Telegraph.
Conservative shadow business secretary Kevin Hollinrake claimed businesses were “petrified” about the plans.
However, ministers insist they will not impose the change on staff or businesses.
“We have no plans to impose a four-day working week on employers or employees,” said a spokesperson at the Department for Business and Trade.
“Any changes to employment legislation will be consulted on, working in partnership with business.”
They added that the plan for more flexible working was instead designed to increase productivity and help get more people back into work.
Employees already have the right to request flexible working. Employers must deal with requests in a “reasonable manner” but can turn them down “if they have a good business reason for doing so”.
“Employees in the UK already have the right to request flexible working, which includes requesting a four-day week, so it’s not yet clear what this “new” law will entail,” said Charlie Thompson, employment partner at law firm Stewarts.
“One possibility is for the government to make it more difficult for employers to refuse such requests, because at present it is quite easy for them to do so.”
Earlier this year, Morrisons scrapped four-day working weeks for its head office staff following feedback.
In order to make the four-day week work, staff had to work some Saturdays, which resulted in complaints and dissatisfaction.
In July, Asda shelved a four-day week trial after staff complained that their longer shifts were too demanding.
Ben Willmott, head of public policy at HR body the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development, said flexible working arrangements such as compressed hours “can help people balance their work and home life commitments, while also supporting employer efforts to recruit and retain staff”.
“However flexible working has to work for both the business and workers if it’s to be sustainable.”
He added that it would make sense for the government to assess the impact of changes introduced in April, which allow people to request flexible working from day one of employment, before making further changes.
Details are expected in the autumn when a law to create a new package of workers’ rights is expected to begin its journey through Parliament.
Labour has pledged to repeal some anti-trade union laws, restrict the use of zero-hours contracts and expand flexible working arrangements.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer calls the proposals “the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation” and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner argues they will be “good for the economy”.
But the Conservative opposition claims the approach would damage business and lead to reduced productivity.
In 2022, several UK companies took place in a six-month trial to test a four-day working week, which saw workers receive full pay for working fewer hours.
Tyler Grange, an environmental consultancy, took part in the trial and in 2023 told the BBC it was sticking with the working pattern.
Simon Ursell, its managing director, said the first month of the trial had been “a bit white knuckle”.
But the firm said it found the extra day off boosted staff happiness and even resulted in more people applying to work there.
However, the experiment did not work for Mark Roderick’s engineering and industrial supplies company Allcap.
“As opposed to 10 normal workdays, we found that employees would have nine extreme ones – once they got to their scheduled day off they were exhausted,” he said last year.
“Once we factored in holidays, sickness and caring responsibilities, we also struggled to find cover for an employee on their rest day,” he said.
