The problem, however, is that asking doesn’t always mean getting. At the moment, workers are only entitled to request any type of flexible working arrangement once a year, and only once they’ve been employed at their workplace for at least 26 weeks. Your request for flexible working also has to include an explanation of how this could affect the business and proposed ways to deal with the impact.

Employers are then able to refuse as long as they have “business reasons” for doing so. And if your workplace isn’t set up to handle the four-day work week as standard, they’ll be entirely entitled to say ‘no’. If that happens, you won’t be able to ask again for another year.

Before we can really roll out the red carpet for the four-day week as a new way of working, businesses will need to make some changes, says Terry Payne, global managing director of Aspire.

“It’s no secret that the adoption of flexible working practices has rapidly accelerated in recent years, with the pandemic acting as a catalyst for this,” he said. “Many businesses are reaping the benefits, too. Many are experiencing an increase in productivity and employees are happier – whether as a result of remote working or four-day working weeks that pay the same as a five-day week.

4-day work week requests are about to come ‘flooding in’, according to a new report