The UK is preparing a labour reform for the autumn. Labour will propose a legislative change this autumn that will make it easier for workers to switch from a five-day week to a four-day week, or “compressed day”, as Labour puts it in a report published by the Labour Daily Telegraph.
The reduction in working hours will be in terms of days and not hours, that is, British workers will be able to request a compressed working day of four days as long as circumstances allow and work the same hours (40), according to ‘El País.
UK Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner worked with several government departments to launch the proposal in mid-October, according to the reports. Of course, the UK government acknowledges that the “compressed day” would not be adaptable to the situation of all workers.
“We think flexible hours are good for productivity,” Employment Secretary Jacqui Smith admitted on LBC radio. “Maybe instead of working eight hours a day for five days, you could work ten hours a day for four days. It would be the same amount of work, but in a way that would allow you to spend less on childcare or spend more time with your family. “That would attract more people into the labour market and contribute to our fundamental objective of growth,” she said, according to information gathered by ‘El País’.
THE Companies will not be obliged to accept or implement the compressed day which plans the training of work. They will seek, through this reform, to fight against the temporary nature or fraud of temporary contracts (the equivalent of the work and service contract which has disappeared from the Spanish model).
Although the government says it will not impose any changes on staff or businesses, the Conservatives say businesses are “petrified”. A spokesperson for the Department of Trade and Business said that “any changes to employment legislation will be consulted with businesses”, as reported by the BBC.
