Work-life balance | Why Unilever is trialling a four-day work week

The five-day working week is deeply ingrained in western culture. A Monday-to-Friday 9-to-5 schedule is practically unspoken law across the UK, with just two days to unwind and take care of physical and mental wellbeing at the weekend.

However, with the compounded stress of the coronavirus pandemic, and the unmitigated success of the almost universal uptake of remote working – which goes against another deeply-ingrained culture of office-based presence – does the five-day working week really work?

The British population seems to disagree; a YouGov survey, which was conducted before the pandemic took hold, found that 63% of workers would back a move to a four-day working week. An additional study from the CIPD noted that 60% of UK employees currently work longer hours than they see as fair, with 24% over-working by up to ten-hours a week.

This is in stark contrast to 78% of employees who work on more flexible schedules and believe that it has had a positive impact on their lives.