Think tank Autonomy argues that the public sector could pioneer a shorter working week without affecting productivity. With 80 per cent of council employees working from home during the pandemic, is this the moment for local government to shine?

• MPs have called for a four-day working week to boost falling employment in the UK


• Think tank report highlights the public sector as the pioneer for the four-day working week


• Local authorities are particularly well placed to take this forward, and benefit from it

Now is the right time to implement the four-day working week on a large scale, and the public sector should pioneer it, according to a new report by think tank Autonomy. The Covid-19 pandemic plunged the UK into a recession that experts believe could take us years to fully recover from. Cutting working hours has been used as a tool throughout history to boost employment and help economies bounce back, including after the Great Depression in the 1930s.

In June, a cross-party group of MPs urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak to consider implementing a four-day working week. This, they argued, would be a ‘powerful tool to recover from this crisis’ as UK’s furlough scheme, which contributed to the wages of around 9.6 million jobs, comes to an end in October.

Local government leading employment practices

For over a decade, the public sector, and especially local government, has been doing more with less money. The future – post-Covid-19 – looks even more uncertain, so it is essential that local authority workforces are flexible, collaborative, and motivated.

Autonomy’s report calls for a 32-hour working week across the public sector to boost employment rates and help the economy recover. The average full-time public sector employee currently works 36.4 hours a week, not factoring in overtime.

Dropping employees’ working hours by one fifth would require the sector to employ another half a million full-time employees.

Autonomy calculates that giving one extra day a week back to employees could cost between £5.4bn and £9bn, around six per cent of the public sector employment salary bill and just over one per cent of the government’s total spending budget.

This takes into account the expected increased productivity that a four-day working week would create among all employees, thanks to increased job motivation, as indicated by several trials of four-day working weeks.

Why are local authorities well placed to do this?

At no point in time has flexible working been higher up the agenda across both the public and private sectors. As the vast majority of office workers remain working from home, saving time and money on commuting, some may be expecting, and hoping, that their employers demonstrate willingness to be flexible as government guidelines lift and the UK’s workforce gradually come back into workplaces.

There is a particular spotlight on local authorities, since the proportion of council staff working from home increased from five per cent pre-lockdown to 80 per cent.

Research indicates that public sector workers endure an unhealthy work/life balance, and work-related stress, including those working in local government. Public sector workers are more likely to have mental health problems than those in the private sector, and more likely to take sick days because of mental illness, according to research.

By preventing overwork and reducing stress,’ the Autonomy report states, ‘shorter working hours would reduce the prevalence of mental health problems among public sector workers.’

What’s the incentive for local government?

Implementing a four-day week across local government could not only improve the wellbeing of staff, but could also contribute to recruitment and retention, the Autonomy report states. Local government employees value flexible working, and newer recruits, especially, are drawn to work in the sector because of the work-life balance, according to a literature review and surveys of England’s local government workforce and local government HR directors by the New Local Government Network in 2016.

Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council in Wales introduced a scheme whereby employees could apply to work four days a week – however, in this model, employees would take a reduction in their salary in return.

The council reported that a shorter working week could allow employees to re-focus resources where they’re most critically needed, and allow time and energy to be used more effectively. For employees, the council foresaw that reducing working hours even slightly could provide huge benefits, and could offer a solution to temporary problems that might have otherwise required more drastic action, such as terminating a contract if the employee cannot work a fixed number of hours or set working pattern.

“It also affirms the value of the employee to the organisation, the council states, and may ‘reassure those who fear a loss of status or responsibility with more conventional forms of part-time working’.

Leading the way as procurer of services

Public procurement is long-established as a tool to achieve policy goals. In 2013, the UK government’s Social Value Act introduced requirements for public sector bodies to look at the social and environmental benefits of awarding contract to suppliers.

Preston Council started a progressive procurement strategy in 2012 to shift spending towards local goods, services and suppliers in an effort designed to boost the local economy, SMEs and the voluntary sector.

In this instance, procurement could be used extend the impact of the four-day working week further than just local government, to encourage private sector contractors to adopt shorter working weeks by giving preference to firms that offer flexibility for their employees, Autonomy argues. Carried out in tandem with changes to local authority work patterns, this could help to embed a four-day working week across the private sector.

Can Covid-19 be a catalyst for change?

Workloads, demand and funding from central government are uncertain, but there is no doubt that the case for a four-day working week is strong. Autonomy’s argument that the public sector is well placed to lead this change is persuasive, and there seems to be no better time for local authorities to ramp up flexible working when the vast majority of its workforce is already working from home and, in many cases, enjoying the increased flexibility.

During this period of economic uncertainty, there is evidence that a four-day working week would improve morale, productivity and employment, and boost the economy. Local government has a history of spearheading good practice and initiating social change – perhaps renewed demand for the four-day working week is local government’s chance to lead the way.