It’s good to see that the Wellcome Trust is considering shortening the working week for its head office staff to boost productivity and introduce a better work-life balance (Wellcome Trust considers letting workers move to four-day week, 19 January).
As a former BBC journalist, I can attest to the benefits of a four-day week – even though it was introduced in secret, and all of 47 years ago!
BBC Radio Manchester was still in its infancy when the station manager realised his newsroom was working incredibly hard and needed some respite. Most of the journalists, including me, were ex-newspaper men struggling to adapt to radio and covering a large news area. So he introduced a four-day week, with the trade-off that we would not ask for time off for working beyond our shift times. As journalists, we were used to working beyond normal hours, so a four-day week was a gift.
Weekend working arrangements were even better – one Friday afternoon, followed by two 12-hour shifts, and most of the prior week off work with family and friends.
All of this was without the London management’s knowledge. When bosses arrived for a visit, dummy rotas went up on the board showing a 40-hour shift pattern. The station manager’s successor, tipped off about our unusual hours, came in with the threat of introducing the BBC’s contracted 42-hour week, and scrapped our beloved four-day week.
Dave Hulme
Stockport, Greater Manchester
• I worked for the Guardian in Manchester for several years until I left to have my first child in 1977. The management and union had earlier agreed to a four-day working week instead of the five-day norm that had been in operation – a development that was up and running for the last year at least that I worked there.
Forward-thinking as always.
Rosemarie Leonard
Godalming, Surrey
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