Labour is at loggerheads with big business over work reforms. Given Keir Starmer’s love of donor cash, who do you think is going to win?
The row has erupted over plans to make work more flexible – especially with the option of working from home (WFH).
Labour reckons this will make employees more productive – and also loyal to bosses who treat them well. That’s why the new government’s Employment Rights Bill is likely to modernise working practices to give employees the ability to work from home, compress their working week into fewer days (with more hours worked per day), and “disconnect” outside working hours (meaning their bosses will not be allowed to contact them with stressful demands).
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Commentators like the BBC have pointed out that some employers who have experimented with four-day working weeks have subsequently gone back to the traditional format. The same has happened with working from home.
But these are exceptions to the norm. The UK ran the world’s biggest trial of the four-day working week, and the results were conclusive: 51 per cent of participants permanently adopted the change, and 89 per cent were still operating the policy – whether officially-adopted or not – one year later.
But now the tycoons are coming out against it and the media are paying attention. Why?
Who cares that Sir Martin Sorrell, “the mastermind behind advertising behemoth WPP and now at the helm of S4 Capital”, says experiments with the working week or working hours don’t help? Why is he saying this and what does he hope to gain from it?
Sir Martin reckons the UK’s businesses need “stability and a business environment that fosters investment and drives productivity”. These and a four-day working week are not mutually-exclusive!
And in any case, Sorrell – and even the Confederation of British Industry, that is saying much the same – is just a voice in the wilderness. More businesses that have tried the new model have found it useful than not.
So when we hear people like this, perhaps we should ask one simple question: what are people like Martin Sorrell afraid of?
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Labour is at loggerheads with big business over work reforms
Labour is at loggerheads with big business over work reforms. Given Keir Starmer’s love of donor cash, who do you think is going to win?
The row has erupted over plans to make work more flexible – especially with the option of working from home (WFH).
Labour reckons this will make employees more productive – and also loyal to bosses who treat them well. That’s why the new government’s Employment Rights Bill is likely to modernise working practices to give employees the ability to work from home, compress their working week into fewer days (with more hours worked per day), and “disconnect” outside working hours (meaning their bosses will not be allowed to contact them with stressful demands).
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Commentators like the BBC have pointed out that some employers who have experimented with four-day working weeks have subsequently gone back to the traditional format. The same has happened with working from home.
But these are exceptions to the norm. The UK ran the world’s biggest trial of the four-day working week, and the results were conclusive: 51 per cent of participants permanently adopted the change, and 89 per cent were still operating the policy – whether officially-adopted or not – one year later.
But now the tycoons are coming out against it and the media are paying attention. Why?
Who cares that Sir Martin Sorrell, “the mastermind behind advertising behemoth WPP and now at the helm of S4 Capital”, says experiments with the working week or working hours don’t help? Why is he saying this and what does he hope to gain from it?
Sir Martin reckons the UK’s businesses need “stability and a business environment that fosters investment and drives productivity”. These and a four-day working week are not mutually-exclusive!
And in any case, Sorrell – and even the Confederation of British Industry, that is saying much the same – is just a voice in the wilderness. More businesses that have tried the new model have found it useful than not.
So when we hear people like this, perhaps we should ask one simple question: what are people like Martin Sorrell afraid of?
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Join the uPopulus group at https://upopulus.com/groups/vox-political/
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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