Study Into Shorter Working Week

5 July 2013, 06:00 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A researcher at Newcastle Uni is looking into the possibility of working a 4 day week and the impact it would have on our lives.

Dr. Gareth Evans is a Research Associate in Public Transport Systems at the University.

Along with Dr Jo Guiver from the University of Central Lancashire, they've created a survey to ask people what they think about working for less money and fewer hours per week.

The research is funded and supported by the Newcastle Institute for Research on Sustainability (NIReS) seed-funding programme.

It came about after The New Economics Foundation suggested that reducing the working week would help share out work and wealth more equally.

They believe that an increase in leisure time, whilst earning a little less, would improve quality of life rather than quantity of consumption.

There's also claims that cutting people's working hours could have a positive impact on the level of unemployment - with more people being able to share jobs.

Most people work 37-40 hours a week, but the proposals would see that to working weeks of 21 or 30 hours.

Dr. Evans told Capital:
"Technology means that we should be able to work less than 37-40 hours a week and enjoy more leisure time out of work.

We're not advocating a compete abandoning of work altogether, but it's about how we can make our work-life balance so we can enjoy ourselves outside of work.

There's a trade off between having slightly less money but more leisure time to enhance your well-being."

Dr. Evans will be collecting the responses from people around the country before compiling all of the information.

You can take part in the survey here 

Hear more from Dr Evans talking to Capital's Anna Harding below