Each and every time a Bank Holiday rolls around, we’re struck by the same thought: Wow, having a three-day weekend is great. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have one every week?

For a while, that sort of pondering was just a trip to fantasy land. But in recent years, the case for a four-day working week (meaning a three-day weekend) has built and built. Trials of the four-day week were a major success, with no dip in productivity found. Research has suggested that this way of working has no downsides and might even allow us to get more done.

We’re waking up to the idea that asking our managers for a four-day working week as standard might not be such an out-there proposal. No wonder, then, that experts predict that requests are about to come ‘flooding in’, and that new research points to a massive surge in demand for jobs with this type of working week.

A study from Flexa analysed the role preferences of over 24,000 job seekers between June 2022 and July 2023. They found that the number of workers searching for companies that offer a four-day working week has jumped by 38%.

More of us are looking for jobs offering 4-day working weeks