This week the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) threw their support behind a four-day week policy, prompting us to ask how it could impact employee income and personal budgets.
A Glasgow-based charity Advice Direct Scotland (ADS), which runs Scotland’s national advice service advice.scot, introduced a four-day working week for all staff in 2018 and have since been pushing for others to introduce the concept.
All of their 90 members of staff receive the same wages, while working fewer hours- so there is no change to yearly income.
ADS say that this is the gold standard they think other companies should be aiming towards and this is what STUC are advocating for- but they do acknowledge that it's up to companies to decide how or if they implement this policy.
What changes might employees see to personal weekly budgets?
David Rutherford, a father of two from Glasgow and an employee of ADS says that he saves around £520 a year on commuting: “If you take home working out of the equation completely, so pre lockdown, I went from 5 days a week to 4 days a week in the office which meant one less train of train travel to pay.
"That would cost me a tenner. We are not talking thousands of pounds but that's a tenner a week saved on train fare and petrol down to the train station. I am on the same salary and I have a little bonus from less commuting.”
While at home working is still the norm for many, as workplaces open up and staff return to city and town centres David said that avoiding the temptation of paying for lunch or coffee out for an extra day saved him money.
He explained: “The Merchant City, where my office is, has fancy places for coffee and lunch so it's really easy to spend £10 a day just getting lunch and snacks so it's definitely a way to save with an extra day off work."
The charity said the move has widespread public support and has been demonstrated to improve productivity and staff morale, with absenteeism at the organisation down by around 75 per cent – and no reduction in the service offered.
David added: "For me its not all financial benefit. I have two you kids and having a day during the week that we can set aside as a family day has made some difference. I missed a lot of my youngest sons first year because 5 days a week I'd be out of the house at 7.30 and getting home when he is going to bed and often he would spend the weekend at his Grans.
"I've actually got family time guaranteed every week now and some weekly savings that I have the potential to spend on them"
A report last year revealed 70 per cent of Scots backed a four-day week, with only eight per cent saying they opposed or strongly opposed the idea.
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