A shorter working week
Reducing the time we spend at work to provide more time for life.
There is no natural law determining the amount of time we spend in work. History shows us that when people come together they can reduce the working week in order to provide more time for life – indeed that was how the weekend and the eight-hour day was won.
Today, arguments around reducing working time have come roaring back. Automation has injected the debate with a new urgency. Winning shorter working hours without a loss in pay offers a way to tackle symptoms of overwork, providing people with more time to recuperate, participate in democratic process and fulfil caring responsibilities.
We are pleased to be part of an alliance building a new consensus that more free time is an ambition to bake into the rules of the economy – working with trade unions, researchers and campaigners in the UK and across Europe.
Winning shorter working hours without a loss in pay offers a way to tackle symptoms of overwork, providing people with more time to recuperate, participate in democratic process and fulfil caring responsibilities.
