Gail’s chairman Luke Johnson today warned proposals for a four-day week would strangle businesses with more red tape and particularly harm start-ups.
Business groups also called for caution over the potential Labour plans to open up a ‘compressed hours’ four-day work week to more of the workforce.
And Tory MPs said it was ‘as mad a way to run an economy as a three-wheeled car’, adding: ‘Customers expect a five day service and that means five day working.’
After the reports emerged overnight, the Government denied it will force businesses to allow staff to work a four-day week but said it supports flexible working.
Mr Johnson, the former chairman of Pizza Express, told MailOnline: ‘This Government are crushing any prospects for growth with a torrent of new regulations on business.
Gail’s chairman Luke Johnson has issued a warning over possible plans for a four-day week
‘The added costs and claims will discourage investment and inhibit job creation and start ups. Everything Labour has proposed so far is anti-growth, anti-jobs and anti-private sector.’
What small businesses and sole traders think of four-day week plan
Michelle Lawson, director at Lawson Financial: ‘Another piece of dangerous policy for small business. Small businesses have long been mooted as the backbone of the economy. A lot of which will have a small workforce. Not all businesses have the practicality or resource to support this.’
Rachael Dines, founder and director at Shake It Up Creative: ‘I fully support an option for compressed hours to be available to all, providing it suits all parties involved. What must be considered however, is lone working in flexible office spaces and wellbeing for both business leaders and their workforce.’
Gabriel McKeown, head of macroeconomics at Sad Rabbit Investments: ‘With the promise of a shortened workweek akin to a siren’s song, the allure of a four-day workweek is undeniable. Yet, despite the natural ‘too good to be true’ suspicion surrounding anything that feels remotely utopian, this policy could be a beacon of hope for improved mental health and enhanced productivity.’
Sam Kirk, managing director at J-Flex Rubber Products: ‘I’m not completely convinced that this will have a positive impact on wellbeing, and for some it may even have a negative impact as they attempt to cram five days’ worth of work into four days.’
Tony Restell, founder and director at Social-Hire.com: ‘This proposal totally defeats the purpose of a four-day week, If you simply force your employees to work longer hours during the remaining four days of the week, the wellbeing and productivity benefits are lost.’
Caroline Kelly, director at The Lovat, Loch Ness Limited: ‘We live in a small village in the Highlands of Scotland with limited rental accommodation. We already house 18 staff living in. To move to a four-day working week in all departments would make it impossible to function as we would need more staff to operate the business. ‘
Naomi Butters, co-founder and CEO at ICENA: ‘In my experience, a four-day workweek can enhance work-life balance, boost productivity, and improve employee well-being, especially for small businesses. However, it’s essential to distinguish between compressing hours into fewer days and genuinely reducing work hours.’
Carolyn Hobdey, co-founder at Being Human At: ‘It’s not always about compromise, as compromise favours no-one, but it is about listening and responding, and finding ways to work, together, between time in office and time at home, where expectations are met. That’s the crucial thing, and the key to employee wellbeing and work-life balance.’
Gary Parsons, leadership mental health advocate and inspirational speaker: ‘While the idea of a four-day workweek is promising for employees and I support the concept, it’s crucial that leaders are also considered in these plans. Leaders often carry the burden of ensuring productivity and managing teams, and this shift could add to their stress if not implemented thoughtfully.’
Earlier today, education minister Baroness Jacqui Smith dismissed a report in the Daily Telegraph that Labour’s Make Work Pay plans could force businesses to accept employees’ demands for a four-day week.
She told LBC radio: ‘We think that flexible working is actually good for productivity. The four-day week that I know is on the front of quite a lot of newspapers today, what we’re actually talking about there is the type of flexible working that enables you to use compressed hours.
‘So perhaps instead of working eight hours a day for five days, you work 10 hours a day for four days.
‘You’re still doing the same amount of work, but perhaps you’re doing it in a way that enables you, for example, to need less childcare, to spend more time with your family, to do other things, that encourages more people into the workplace.’
It comes after the newspaper reported that ‘compressed hours’ could feature in a new law which could shift the balance of power so companies would be legally obliged to offer flexible working from day one except where it is ‘not reasonably feasible’.
Ben Willmott, head of public policy for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the professional body for human resources, said the Government should ‘take stock’ of recent rule changes around employment, which allow people to request flexible working when they start new jobs, before making more changes.
He said: ‘Flexible working arrangements such as compressed hours, job sharing and term-time working can help people balance their work and home life commitments, while also supporting employer efforts to recruit and retain staff.
‘However, flexible working has to work for both the business and workers if it’s to be sustainable and this needs to be recognised in any changes to regulation.
‘It would make sense for the Government to take stock of the impact of recent changes introduced only in April to enable people to request flexible working from day one of employment, before seeking to make further changes.’
Meanwhile Tory MP Andrew Griffith, the shadow science, innovation and technology secretary, told MailOnline: ‘This is as mad a way to run an economy as a three-wheeled car.
‘At a time when Labour should be doing it all it can to boost productivity, ministers seem intent on wrapping British businesses in more red tape.
‘Firms should be able to choose how they manage their staff, without diktats from Government.’
And Conservative former business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg told MailOnline: ‘In an economy that has a long standing productivity problem, policies that will make it worse are folly.
‘Look at the decline in the GP service where the majority do not work a full week. Customers expect a five day service and that means five day working.’
In addition, Tory shadow business secretary Kevin Hollinrake claimed businesses are ‘petrified’ about Labour’s Make Work Pay plans.
He told The Telegraph: ‘Despite warning after warning from industry, Angela Rayner is pressing ahead with her French-style union laws that will make doing business more expensive in the UK.
‘Labour must listen to businesses who are petrified about day one employment rights and bringing in the four-day week through the back door.’
But a Department for Business and Trade spokesman denied claims that the Government would ‘impose’ the working pattern on businesses.
It is understood that any plan to open up ‘compressed hours’ to more workers would not result in bank holiday-style weekends each week, and that employees would usually need to work their contracted hours, even if they chose to over fewer days.
The Whitehall spokesperson said: ‘We have no plans to impose a four-day working week on employers or employees. Any changes to employment legislation will be consulted on, working in partnership with business.
‘Our Make Work Pay plan is designed around increasing productivity and creating the right conditions for businesses to support sustained economic growth. Many employers already provide good, family-friendly conditions for their workers because they know that doing so improves morale and retention.
‘We are working in close partnership with business and civil society to find the balance between improving workers’ rights while supporting the brilliant businesses that pay people’s wages.’
The department vowed to set out further details of its approach within 100 days.
Education minister Baroness Jacqui Smith (pictured) dismissed a report that Labour’s Make Work Pay plans could force businesses to accept employees’ demands for a four-day week
Labour released a document titled Labour’s Plan To Make Work Pay in May.
It did not propose a four-day week but committed the party to banning zero-hour contracts, replacing them with documents which reflect the number of hours an employee regularly works.
It also proposed a ‘genuine living wage’, and an end to ‘fire and rehire’ practices where workers are laid off and then re-employed on new terms.
The Telegraph cited a Labour source as saying: ‘The Conservatives pledged to make flexible working the default then failed to do so.’
This is a reference to the party’s winning 2019 manifesto which Boris Johnson fronted, which read: ‘We will encourage flexible working and consult on making it the default unless employers have good reasons not to.’
Tory MP Andrew Griffith said: ‘This is as mad a way to run an economy as a three-wheeled car’
The Labour source also told the newspaper: ‘We’ll build on their existing legislation to ensure flexibility is a genuine default, except where it is not reasonably feasible for employers to agree.’
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said: ‘Good employers already recognise the benefits flexible working can bring to their workforces and businesses, whether it’s through increasing staff productivity or higher retention.
‘Offering people flexible working arrangements makes good economic sense. It helps more people back into work and keeps more people in work, allowing workers to balance their professional and personal lives.
‘This is about developing patterns of work needed for a modern economy and a modern workforce. The bad faith arguments being advanced by the likes of the Conservatives are simply out of date and do not stack up.’
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Business groups called for caution over the potential Labour plans for workers (file image)
Matthew Percival, director of Future of Work at the Confederation of British Industry, said flexible working ‘depends on the job’, and some workforces might not all be able to have flexibility at the same time if it means they cannot meet customer demands.
He said: ‘Businesses supported making asking for flexible working a day one right because good conversations about what can be mutually beneficial shouldn’t be unduly delayed.
‘When the Government sets out how it wants to change this law, businesses will be looking to see that it doesn’t become prohibitively difficult or expensive to say ‘no’ to unreasonable requests.’
Joe Ryle, director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, said allowing workers to compress their hours into four working days would be a welcome move.
Mr Ryle said: ‘However, these proposals would only allow workers to compress their working hours rather than reduce them, which we have found is key for improving work-life balance and also maintaining productivity.
‘Compressing the same amount of hours into four days rather than five can be an important first step on the road to a true four-day week but reducing overall working hours is crucial.’
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