In a move that would make the entire British work force really bloody happy, Jeremy Corbyn has said he will discuss proposals to reduce the working day to six hours.
When asked in a reader Q&A by the Mirror, ‘Are you in favor of the six-hour working day?’ he answered:
‘I don’t know if I could quite get my job done in only six hours a day but it’s something we will be discussing in our recently launched Workplace 2020, the biggest conversation the UK has ever had on the workplace and workers’ rights.’
Workplace 2020 is an initiative by Labour which was launched in May and is aimed at increasing workers’ rights and encouraging trade union membership.
During his launch speech, he addressed the widespread inequalities in the UK workplace and called it ‘one of the most unequal of modern economies’, criticising the high levels of in-work poverty and the growing divide between the highest salaries and what the workers lower down receive.
Workplace 2020 will aim to provide security to employees, with Corbyn saying that ‘we'll be shaping a different approach based on full employment, a high skilled workforce with decent pay, rights of the self-employed and the employed’.
This focus on the six hour work day comes after many businesses in Sweden have been making this switch as a way to boost productivity and morale amongst employees. The Toyota services centers in Gothenburg were way ahead when they switched to a six hour work day 13 years ago and have reported happier stafd, a lower turnover rate and a 25% increase in profits since.
The idea is that productivity will be increased with staff completing the same amount of work but in a shorter amount of time and having more energy to do so. It also means that employees will have more leisure time and, in theory, be better rested.
In February last year, a nursing home in Gothenburg began trialling a six hour work day and they now report higher levels of staff well being and a high standard of care.
Bring on the six hour work day, we say.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.