Employees would work four days in the office and then ten at home under a new proposal for getting Britain back to work.
The workforce would be split into two groups which don't overlap, Imperial College London chemical biologist Professor Keith Willison suggests in a study for the Adam Smith Institute.
Each fortnight one group would head to the office for a four day stint under the plans, followed by the other.
After their time in the office employees would then spend ten days working or having time off at home.
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Weekends built around Saturdays and Sundays would no longer apply, with workers' time off shifting depending on when the four days end and begin.
The proposals would allow millions of Brits back into the office after weeks of working from home, while limiting contact with others.
Employers would find it easier to enforce social distancing under the proposals, which would decrease the likelihood that someone infected with Covid-19 would pass it on to their colleagues.
Professor Willison cited research from the Weizmann Institute of Science claiming that outbreaks are less likely if people are exposed to others for four rather than five days.
That is because it usually take three to four days for an infected person to start transmitting the coronavirus, meaning they would be off work by this point if they caught it at the beginning of the week.
The proposals could also be applied to schools, Professor Wilson argued.
Children's days in the classroom could coincide with their parents' days in the office, solving childcare issues.
"We believe it could enable the UK to avoid the ‘second spike’ at the same time as reactivating the economy," Professor Willison said, I News reports.
"The 4-10 plan is scalable, flexible, easy to understand, enforceable and can be implemented locally in schools and businesses."
