Credit: Dave C/Flickr, CC 2.0
Across Europe, we are witnessing the rebirth of a centuries-old movement. Work and time are once again becoming sites of major political contestation and shifting the shape of political debate – shown most recently in Irish trade union Fórsa’s conference on working time reduction last week. Whether the cause is embodied by political parties, progressive businesses, trade unions, or national campaigns, working time reduction is fast becoming a new common-sense as a response to a range of deeply embedded and interconnected problems. Crucially however, much of the enthusiasm around the move for shorter hours is underpinned by a belief that it is not just a defensive response to socio-economic issues, but is also transformational in its ability to offer a fundamentally new relationship with work and the promise of a new society.
Innovations in business practice
Small businesses are forming a rapidly growing vanguard in working time experimentation. Just as Henry Ford’s successful implementation of a five-day 40-hour week in 1926 formed the basis of his company’s success and paved the way for other companies to adopt similar practices, innovative companies are experimenting with the four-day week today.
