The working week in the UK - Unit 4

C1 Advanced · Multiple Matching · Complete Advanced Workbook, Cambridge University Press

You are going to read an article about the history and future of the working week in the UK. For questions 1–10, choose from the sections (A-D). The sections may be chosen more than once.

The five-day working week of Monday to Friday has been established for so long in the UK that it is sometimes forgotten to question. The status quo of the most dreaded day of the week was so embedded in UK culture. However, the working week hasn't always been this way, and employers and their employees alike agree that the four-day week was actually acceptable somehow. So, how did our current working pattern come about and why are so many people desperate to see it change? The industrial revolution occurred in Britain in the 1870s to early 19th centuries. Most work was seasonal and limited to daylight hours, and once factories had been built, their owners were reluctant to see their valuable machinery lying idle. This meant it was common for workers – even those under 18 – to do 14 to 16-hour days. The standard working week was six days as Sunday was dedicated to religious observance, meaning that workers had very little time for fun.

From the late 18th century, reformers began to agitate for more manageable working hours and, after laws were passed in 1802 and 1819, limiting the working hours of children to 12 per day, it would be over a hundred years before working hours for women and children were limited at nine per day. Adult men could still be forced to work unlimited hours. Eventually, the working week went down to five and a half days before it was reduced further to the five-day week. This working pattern was reflected in Europe and the United States where the industrial revolution continued. In 1926, the American car manufacturer Henry Ford was one of the first employers to give his workers a five-day working week, and the United States government introduced the five-day working week in 1932. This was implemented to counter unemployment caused by the Great Depression.

Those employers who adopted the five-day week, both in the UK and overseas, noticed their workers were invigorated on the first day of work, which led to a rise in productivity and reduced absenteeism. Employers and employees have naturally wondered if there are further gains to be made by knocking another day off the working week. It has now been almost a century since the five-day week was introduced, and many believe another change is long overdue. Across the world, there have been numerous trials of the four-day week. Microsoft Japan trialed it in a month and reported a 40% rise in productivity, not to mention a happier workforce. Research by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a forum where the governments of 37 countries develop policies for sustainable economic growth, supports Microsoft's findings. The least productive countries are those with the highest number of working hours. Luxembourg, with an average working week of only 29 hours, was the most productive country studied. Yet, the 40-hour working week is still the norm.

So, what other alternatives are there to the 9 to 5 rat race? The compressed work week involves working three long 14-hour days. While on the surface an attractive option, trials have found the longer hours on the working days negate the benefits of the extra free days. Various ways of working flexibly have been tried, and there are many organisations that have successfully implemented different types of arrangement. In any case, companies and employers will understand the benefits of a happy workforce in economic and social terms and there are organisations that campaign for the four-day week to become the standard. A survey conducted by the UK-based market research group, YouGov, reported that 60% of British workers still work more than they would like and 25% are overworking by at least ten hours per week. Although the data shows that fewer hours can lead to higher productivity, few employers have acted on it by reducing working hours. Campaigners believe that the 4-day week will only become a reality when the UK government enacts legislation to enforce it.

The working week in the UK

shows how to make employees work better at the start of the week?

explains the origins of long working hours in the UK?

reports research showing output is not increased by longer hours?

suggests some employees feel they are working too many hours?

gives an example of something that changed through workers taking time off?

mentions the beginnings of worker rights activism?

mentions potential alternatives to the 4-day week?

gives a reason for a national-level change to the working week?

outlines the benefits of the shorter working week?

describes the findings of an international body?

Available as a free printable PDF worksheet with an optional answer key.

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