Less is More
3 years, 11 months, 25 days
25 July 2025
Somehow we have nearly all fallen into the trap of believing that life is about working harder, earning more, and buying more stuff.
Recently I was on the London Underground idly reading the advertisements in the carriage, when I noticed one from a business recruiting for staff. The list of reasons to join were the usual: competitive salary and benefits, flexible working, transferable skills... Except then I noticed ‘4 day week’.
That business is not alone. The UK even has an organisation lobbying for four day weeks, (the ‘4 Day Week Foundation’), which says more than 230 organisations have now adopted a 4 day week.
The 5 day working week is just a legacy of history. For centuries the working week was 6 days, because Judaism, Islam and Christianity all mandated one day of rest, for worship. Only a hundred years ago did companies start to move to 5 days, because they found it made employees more productive.
So there is no reason why a 5 day working week should be the optimal answer, and plenty of arguments why shorter might be better. Better for individuals (the 4 Day Week Foundation reports lower levels of stress and burnout). Better for society, because it creates the scope for more individuals to be employed and hence reduce financial inequalities with a fairer distribution of income. Better for employers, because employees who are less tired and stressed should be more productive, and turnover is lower. And better for the environment if fewer working days lead to reduced levels of commuting.
But if all that is true, might there also be an argument for shorter working days, alongside or instead of a shorter working week? For those of us who live far from the equator and work in offices, it cannot be good for our bodies or wellbeing that in winter we drag ourselves out of bed in the freezing darkness and go back home in the dark, too, having spent the entire day working in artificial light.
Of course there are many who work nights, have constantly changing shifts, and/or who are on-call in their jobs, at any time of day or night, usually in emergency service industries. So I am not suggesting that a 4 day week or a 5 hour day would be a panacea. But somehow we have nearly all fallen into the trap of believing that life is about working harder, earning more, and buying more stuff. Or perhaps we don't believe it or really want it, but we do it anyway because that is how the system works.
As the global population continues to increase towards 10 billion people, and the truth sinks-in that our one planet ultimately constrains the fabled ‘growth’ we all seem to seek, perhaps we will realise that what really matters is quality of life. And then a 4 day week, or 5 hour day, will be the only logical as well as sensible answer.