“If you like what you’re doing it won’t feel like work.” My dad’s take on the famous Mark Twain quote is a phrase I heard often growing up. The notion that one day it might feel like I wasn’t working at all propelled me through years of education.

I listened intently to advice like: Always be the first one in the office and the last to leave; Be willing to work long hours for free in the name of experience; Go the extra mile, go above and beyond, rise and grind, baby.

Between university semesters, I used to wear 16-hour hospitality shifts like a badge of honour. No day off because someone is sick? Count me in, I’m dedicated. Need to stay late and recount the tills? Fine by me. No break because we’re getting absolutely pumped in every section of the restaurant? No bother. If I was feeling a little fragile and my voice quivered when my dad called to ask about my weekend, he would say, well, that’s why they call it work.

The trials have been centred on public sector workersThe trials have been centred on public sector workers (Image: free)

Needless to say, watching season three of The Bear last week fired up a lot of long-buried inner turmoil.

I’m ashamed to say overworking makes me feel proud. I still do it. Only now it’s not supposed to feel like work, according to my dad (and Mark Twain). In university professors would say you have to live and breathe journalism if you really want to do it.

They were right about the passion but like other industries I’m starting to think they were wrong to imply you need to spend every waking minute working. The rapid proliferation of smartphones over the last 15 years has added an intense new layer to jobs in all fields.

Technology was supposed to free us from the daily grind but instead the lines between work and life have evaporated. We are always on, always within reach and overwhelmingly bombarded with information. It’s exhausting.

In 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes hypothesised that his grandchildren would only have to work 15 hours a week thanks to machines. Instead, we’ve come up against a productivity paradox whereby too much tech and information have slowed growth. Just wait for AI to properly hit the scene.

There are a lot of buzzwords used to talk about work culture trends: burnout, quiet quitting, the great resignation, Protestant work ethic, hybrid working. But two that folk should get used to hearing are four-day work week and flexible working. Results from the largest public sector trial of the four-day working week were released this week. Unsurprising to the initiated, it was a resounding success.

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The experiment (or as Tories liked to call it, “ideological crusade”) kicked off in January last year with 450 workers from South Cambridgeshire district council working a day less each week for the same amount of pay. Guess what? Staff turnover fell by 39% saving the taxpayer over £370,000 on agency costs. It led to planning decisions being made faster, quicker benefits processing and phones were answered more promptly.

It’s been nearly 100 years since the weekend as we know it was invented. Victorian-era British factory workers were only allowed to take Sundays off for religious reasons, but the blood had barely drained from their calves when they were expected to return to work on Monday. Workers would skive off and productivity suffered. The phenomenon became known as “keeping Saint Monday”.

It was not until around 1926 that idealistic vehicle titan Henry Ford told staff his factories would be shut on Saturday and Sunday. They would be expected to work a five-day, 40-hour work week. It divided opinion then just as the four-day work week concept does now.

The Scottish Government is currently in the midst of its own four-day working week trial that is due to be completed in January 2025. If successful, they plan to roll it out across the Scottish public sector. The productivity of the public sector is a hot topic and it’s true that councils leave much to be desired in the way of efficiency. But rethinking how we approach work is desperately needed these days.

Don’t get me wrong, the four day work week is not a silver bullet. I can’t see it working for nurses, doctors or emergency service workers. Customer facing industries like retail and hospitality might struggle – but this is where the new pilot project on flexible working from the 4 Day Week Campaign comes in.

Starting in November, the trial will look at policies like a shorter working week, flexible start and finish times, a nine-day fortnight or compressed hours when people work the same hours over fewer days. Campaigners are hoping that the new Labour government in Westminster will be more receptive to their plans than the previous pearl-clutching Conservative government.

It’s been nearly 100 years since the weekend as we know it was inventedIt’s been nearly 100 years since the weekend as we know it was invented (Image: free)

My working pattern these days aligns more with Victorian-era Britain (or modern-day Greece) but chill out is scribbled ad nauseam in my diary each week. I think for a lot of us the glamourised cult of overworking will take a while to unlearn.

There’s also a great swathe of the population that must work more and more just to make ends meet in the cost-of-living crisis. If we can make working less of a slog, maybe it won’t have to not “feel like work”. Adapting employment to the realities of modern life by giving workers a bit of choice is proven to yield good results for everyone involved.

And who knows? Maybe AI will inch us closer to that 15-hour work week.

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