The Easter Bank Holiday period underlines the many benefits of a 4 day work week, say the Scottish Greens.
The party’s workers’ rights spokesperson, Maggie Chapman MSP, has called for the UK and Scottish Governments to support companies and organisations who are considering trialling or introducing a 4 day week for workers.
The Scottish Greens have already adopted a 4 day working week for party and MSP office staff, with positive results. Better work-life balance, less stress, and more control over their lives are just some of the benefits that staff have reported. Better focus at work also means increased productivity.
Ms Chapman said:
“Every worker deserves to have a good work-life balance, and a 4 day week without loss of pay is a proven way of providing that.
“The Easter bank holidays will give workers all over the country more time to spend with their families, friends and loved ones, or simply to relax. That should be normal rather than being an exception.
“The path to a 4 day week will be different for every company and organisation. That’s why we want to see more trials across different sectors and are urging the Scottish and UK governments to offer more support for those making the change.
“Whenever workers’ rights have been extended there have been people telling us it is impossible or would result in a loss of productivity or profit.
“We heard this with the introduction of weekends, basic health and safety, and the minimum wage: the same voices told us they couldn’t be done, or they would be detrimental.
“I believe that people are so much more than just cogs in our economy, and that means we must ensure that work does not cause stress and harm to people. We already have longer work weeks than the European average.
“We should be transforming our relationship with work to support the health and wellbeing of our workforce. Because that will be good for them but also for those they work for: happy, healthy employees will be more productive than sick, stressed and frustrated workers.
“The impact of normalising a 4 day week could be transformative for workers’ rights and for building a fairer, greener and better future.”
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