Fewer employees want to work a four-day week now than they did before the Covid pandemic, new research says.
The research shows that the idea that the pandemic has led staff to reconsider the traditional 37-hour working week is not correct, with younger people the least likely to want to cut their hours.
Chloe Dixon, of the University of Southampton, analysed survey data on 30,335 people in the UK from the years 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023. She also conducted 21 interviews with employees.
She found that before Covid (2018 and 2019) 44.6% of people wanted to reduce their working hours, but this fell to 39.1% after the pandemic (2022 and 2023), a drop of 5.5 percentage points, which equates to 12%.
Of those who wanted to reduce their hours in 2022 and 2023, two-thirds would only do so if their full pay was maintained, with the remaining one-third happy to take a pay cut.
“The results show a significant post-Covid decline in a preference for shorter hours and willingness to accept income reduction,” Ms Dixon told the British Sociological Association’s conference on work, employment and society in Manchester today [Tuesday, 9 September 2025].
“This perhaps reflects the greater insecurity experienced or perceived in the years 2022-23 compared to 2018-19, through things like the cost-of-living crisis and greater job insecurity – workers may have become more protective of their work hours.”
This was despite the fact that experiencing remote working and greater autonomy during Covid had made workers open to ideas such as reducing working hours, she said.
She adjusted the data to study the effects of factors such as age, gender and education in isolation and found that:
- Only a quarter of people aged 18 to 24 wanted to work fewer hours, compared with 40% of 40-44 year olds and 45% of 55-59 year olds.
- Managers were more interested in working shorter hours (45%) compared with other workers (38%).
- Women were more likely to want to work fewer hours (45%) than men (40%), probably because of the pressure of domestic labour and childcare.
- Those with degrees were more willing to work shorter hours (44%) than those with no academic qualifications (34%).
- Higher earners were more likely to want to work fewer hours.
Ms Dixon said that the employees she interviewed “showed interest in shorter hours, but for all but one interviewee, losing income was a barrier to this preference.
“A higher level of security, status or privilege is usually associated with a stronger preference to reduce hours. We even see this to some extent in the post-Covid decline in interest in working shorter hours, with the post-Covid context likely being a more insecure environment than before.
“Some of the people in their 20s who I interviewed stressed the need for maintaining or improving their current income because of their current circumstances, such as renting in an expensive city.
“While they still showed interest in shorter hours as long as their pay was maintained, some of them actually struggled to think of what they would actually do with additional time off, reflecting that they didn’t have a family yet and instead would need friends to have a similar work-hour schedule.
“The interviews revealed a stronger interest in reducing work hours than the survey data, perhaps reflecting the different research context. Unlike survey respondents, interview participants were able to articulate and question the assumptions underlying shorter working hours, consider potential trade-offs that remain hidden in quantitative data, and ultimately express a stronger desire for reduced hours.”
- Ms Dixon analysed data from the Labour Force Survey for her PhD.
For more information, please contact:
Tony Trueman
British Sociological Association
Tel: 0044 (0)7964 023392
tony.trueman@britsoc.org.uk
Notes:
- The BSA’s work, employment and society conference takes place from 8-10 September 2025 at the University of Manchester. More than 250 presentations are given. The BSA’s charitable aim is to promote sociology. It is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Company Number: 3890729. Registered Charity Number 1080235 www.britsoc.co.uk
- The University of Southampton drives original thinking, turns knowledge into action and impact, and creates solutions to the world’s challenges. We are among the top 100 institutions globally (QS World University Rankings 2026). Our academics are leaders in their fields, forging links with high-profile international businesses and organisations, and inspiring a 22,000-strong community of exceptional students, from over 135 countries worldwide. Through our high-quality education, the University helps students on a journey of discovery to realise their potential and join our global network of over 200,000 alumni. www.southampton.ac.uk
