“Covid-19 has impacted our societies and economies unlike anything that has preceded it. It has meant that working time and flexible working have taken on a new significance.”
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Initiatives in flexible working, such as staggered start times and a four-day week, might help us as we look to the months ahead:
Getting the economy going with new ideas – Vision Group for Sidmouth
These ideas are gaining more interest:
Moving towards a Four-Day Week – Vision Group for Sidmouth
The Case for a Four Day Week: a practical road map – Vision Group for Sidmouth
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The NEF is particularly interested in the issues – and works across Europe in sharing ideas and initiatives:
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We’ve just published the seventh newsletter of the European Network for the Fair Sharing of Working Time, which you can download here.
Over a few years, the shorter working week has become a mainstream issue in many European countries. This newsletter details the latest developments across the continent, giving concrete examples of trade union campaigns, organisational shifts to shorter hours, the latest research on shorter hours, and relevant policy changes which are occurring at an increasingly frequent rate.
Covid-19 has impacted our societies and economies unlike anything that has preceded it. It has exposed the vast inequalities which exist in our societies, and most clearly in the world of work. However, it has also meant that working time and flexible working have taken on a new significance, and many of the changes to work which have happened are likely to be made permanent. At any rate, the pandemic and its aftermath have made it all the more urgent to move towards a shorter working week, and to ensure that we emerge from the crisis with a better world than the one we had going into it.
I hope you enjoy this edition of the newsletter and find it a useful tool for your own discussions and campaigns on working time reduction.
All the best
Aidan Harper
New Economics Foundation