Four-day week an “overwhelming success”

Four-day week an “overwhelming success”

Four-day week

86% of Iceland's workforce have either moved to shorter hours for the same pay, or will gain the right to, thanks to trials that were declared an "overwhelming success" by researchers. The government ran trials between 2015 and 2019, paying workers the same amount for shorter hours. In the majority of cases, productivity remained stable or increased.

London homebuyers return

Estate agency Knight Frank claims that homebuyers are returning* to the London suburbs as lockdown eases. Last year, London prices didn’t see the same boom as the rest of the country - but transactions last month were 86% higher than the 5 year average.


Back in the office

Government guidance to work from home is set to end with other restrictions. Human resources body CIPD says this "shouldn't signal a mass return to workplaces", but instead “the start of greater freedom and flexibility” in how we work. Others are hoping for a lot more office workers - their absence has been a "real challenge" for local shops, cafes, and pubs, according to the Centre for Cities think tank.