Recently I was poorly. Nothing sinister, just a bit of a nasty throat infection. I took a couple of days off work, not wanting to spread it around the kids I was tutoring. I still felt pretty good overall though. 

So I decided to forget about work for a bit and try and get some stuff done. First off, try and muck in around the house. When I’m working full throttle, it all falls onto Amy. It felt good to be able to help out.

And she was also spared the hassle of taking Jude along when she dropped Mia off at nursery, as he could stay at home with me. We got to spend a precious bit of quality time together.

I was on a roll, so when Jude had a nap I finally cracked on with some painting and decorating I’d been putting off for weeks. Then I finished off a writing project I’d been struggling to find time for. 

Sitting down at the end of the day, it felt like my most productive one in ages. And knowing I only had one day left to work this week, the downer I usually feel on a Sunday evening was gone.

Sure enough, I went into work with enthusiasm and energy, and I wasn’t even close to being knackered by the end of it.

All this got me thinking: why can’t this become the norm?

At the moment, Amy works Saturdays. That means we only get Sunday together. There’s a lot of pressure to make the most of that one day. If one of us is unwell or something else crops up, it puts a downer on the rest of the week. 

You might have heard about the growing movement advocating a four-day working week. It’s something that’s been trialled in countries around the world, with interesting results. Germany has the shortest working hours, yet one of the highest levels of productivity. This is mirrored in other European countries too.

And it’s beginning to catch on here. Organisations like Four Day Week are campaigning for more employers to adopt this into their business. They claim many benefits for employers, employees and society in general.

These include the things I noticed when I was off – more time with family, more time for ‘life admin’ and personal interests, and less stress. 

Employers then feel the benefits too – staff enjoy work more, are absent less often and are more productive. This increases profitability.

In the work-til-you-drop culture of the UK, many dismiss the idea of a four-day week as lazy and entitled. But with absence due to work-based stress and burnout costing the UK economy tens of billions of pounds every year, it’s looking more and more like a reasonable solution.

Let’s hope more British businesses and policymakers are brave and open-minded enough to give it a try. 

Would a four-day week help improve your life? I’d love to hear your thoughts.