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Many law firms are considering implementing a four-day working week

4 Day Week Campaign is a platform supported by several British organisations to promote the reduction of weekly working days. According to this platform, the establishment of 4 working days a week would benefit society and the economy. 

The Impact Lawyers was able to interview the promoters of this platform to find out their opinion on the implementation of the 4-day working week.

What could be the benefits among workers of a 4-day work week?

The four-day working week is good for the economy, good for workers and good for the environment.

Introducing a four-day (32 hour) working week with no loss of pay across the economy would tackle overwork, burnout and boost mental health. It would make us all immeasurably happier and result in increased productivity, delivering the same output or more for companies.

What could be the negative effects on organizations of implementing this strategy?

The only negatives we can foresee is where a company tries to implement it too fast without proper planning. This could throw up all kinds of issues which is why we suggest running well planned pilots for 6 months initially, with every member of staff properly consulted, before permanent implementation.  

What are the difficulties for companies when trying to implement this strategy?

There is an administrative task for HR departments in terms of what days people will take off and how to adapt holiday pay accordingly. This can take a bit of time to work out but is an easy enough hurdle to clear. 

 Which sectors are the most conducive to implementing the 4-day workweek?

It's easier to implement a four-day week for office workers who can all take the same day off but there is no reason why every worker should not be able to transition to a four-day working week in the end. Being more smart with the shift and rota patterns is part of the answer to implementing a four-day week in the service sector for example.

Will it be possible to implement this 4-day plan in law firms? Do you know of any examples?

The four-day week is relatively straight forward to implement for law firms as the office can be closed down for one additional day, or lawyers can pick and choose which extra day they want to have off. Portcullis Legals, a law firm based in Plymouth, was one of the first to move to a four-day working week.