Senedd committee backs four-day working week trial in Wales

A four-day working week trial should be launched in Wales with the aim of boosting productivity, wellbeing and equality, a Welsh parliament committee has said.

The Senedds petitions committee is calling for the Labour-controlled government to conduct pilots in the devolved public sector under which employees would work four-day weeks for the same wages.

It is a bold proposal but no more bold than those campaigners who fought for a five-day week, paid holiday and sick pay which we now take for granted, said Jack Sargeant, the chair of the petitions committee.

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People in Wales work some of the longest hours in Europe. Despite these long hours the UK lags behind on productivity. Experiments [in four-day weeks] are being conducted around the world but we will have a much stronger knowledge of how they fit our circumstances here in Wales if we conduct our own trials.

The Covid pandemic led to a massive change in the way many people work, and forced many to reconsider what was important in terms of their quality of life. The increasing use of automation is another driver of change, as is the climate crisis.