Each and every time a Bank Holiday rolls around, we’re struck by the same thought: Wow, having a three-day weekend is great. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have one every week?

For a while, that sort of pondering was just a trip to fantasy land. But in recent years, the case for a four-day working week (meaning a three-day weekend) has built and built. Trials of the four-day week were a major success, with no dip in productivity found. Research has suggested that this way of working has no downsides and might even allow us to get more done. 

We’re waking up to the idea that asking our managers for a four-day working week as standard might not be such an out-there proposal. No wonder, then, that experts predict that requests are about to come ‘flooding in’, and that new research points to a massive surge in demand for jobs with this type of working week. 

A study from Flexa analysed the role preferences of over 24,000 job seekers between June 2022 and July 2023. They found that the number of workers searching for companies that offer a four-day working week has jumped by 38%.

The data showed that in July 2023 alone, almost half (47%) of all job seekers were searching for a four-day working week. Other types of reduced working weeks have also become more popular with over a third (36%) of workers in July searching for roles that offer four-and-a-half-day weeks (so half-days on Fridays, for example).

To Molly Johnson-Jones, co-founder and CEO of Flexa, this comes as little surprise. She says: “If a business can make a four-day week work, why shouldn’t they? Research clearly shows that four-day weeks improve employee wellbeing and productivity. And at Flexa we hear from people all the time who are happier and healthier for having more time to spend on themselves or with families and friends – without falling behind on life admin and chores.

“Increased demand for reduced working weeks makes total sense, and plenty of employers can see this. Atom Bank, Hydrogen Group and JBM are just a few of the companies that are embracing four-day weeks. Not everyone will join them. But increased awareness of different kinds of flexibility means increased opportunities for businesses to find new ways of working that work better for them and their teams – and that can only be a good thing.” 

Images: Getty