Rethink Work

Changing how we think about work

UK

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  • faviconYour Worth Is Not Your Productivity — From the draconian Poor Laws of the nineteenth century to today’s workfare conditions, governments have consistently used benefits as a tool to discipline those deemed to be ‘idle’ [2025]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Productivity, Protestant Work Ethic   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: Tribune    

  • faviconHalf of UK professionals might quit if ordered back to the office full time, poll shows — Hybrid working, with time spend split between the office and another location such as home, is the working pattern for more than three-quarters (77%) of the workforce [2025]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Remote Working, Workplace Dictatorship   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconThe Tyranny of Work or Why Are we Still Measured by Our Productivity? — The fixation on economic inactivity assumes that the wage relation is the only meaningful form of labour, that those who are not officially employed are doing nothing of value. But as Fortunati shows, capitalism has always relied on unpaid labour [2025]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: Productivity, Protestant Work Ethic   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: anti capitalist musings    

  • faviconFour-day week could alleviate cost of living crisis, thinktank claims — Campaigners and economists in favour of a 4-day week tended to focus on the benefits to workers in the form of increased leisure time and potential improvements in productivity, but the policy would also help UK workers struggling with the increased cost of living [2022]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconWorkplace surveillance may hurt us more than it helps — Workplace surveillance should be subject to regulatory oversight and ideally collective bargaining, since individuals will be better placed to negotiate the details en masse [2021]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: Mental Health, Technofeudalism   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: Financial Times    

  • faviconWhy are we all working so hard? The intensification of work doesn’t seem to be making us richer, but it does appear to be making us sicker — In spite of — or perhaps because of — new technology, people now say they are working harder to tighter deadlines under greater levels of tension [2022]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: How to be Human, Workism   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: Financial Times    

  • faviconCould working less save the planet? Rethinking both Why and How we work should be central to overcoming environmental breakdown, while also improving wellbeing and building a more just society. More wealth has not, on average, made rich nations happier [2019]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: New Statesman    

  • faviconIn their plaintive call for a return to the office, CEOs reveal how little they are needed — The case of remote work shows that the CEO class as a whole failed to pick up an innovation yielding massive benefits before it was forced on them by the pandemic, and have continued to resist and resent it ever since [2024]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Remote Working   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconExpert who coined presenteeism term says employers who force staff back are dinosaurs – Cary Cooper says ‘micromanagers’ risk driving away talent and damaging wellbeing [2024]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Remote Working, Workplace Dictatorship   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconGive workers right to request four-day week with no pay cut, unions and MPs say — It comes as businesses across the country pilot or switch to a four-day week, amid emerging evidence it is good for workers’ wellbeing [2022]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: The Independent    

  • faviconWhat if work is making us sick? — While employment has become less physically dangerous, it seems to have become more psychologically harmful, as high demands and low control at work — known in the academic literature as “job strain” — is bad for mental and physical health [2022]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: How to be Human, Workplace Dictatorship   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: Financial Times    

  • faviconEnforced return to office leads workers to seek new jobs — Two-thirds of recruiters have seen an increase in applicants looking for new jobs who are working at companies that are mandating five days a week in the office, according to a survey [2024]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • favicon‘I love the four-day week’ — Independent school says its four-day week model is designed to offer pupils “increased opportunities for independent exploration and personal development. This approach not only fosters independence but also promotes a more balanced and fulfilling educational experience” [2025]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconHow widespread could the four-day workweek really be? — Many trials of the shortened workweek have shown positive results. It’s an increasingly viable solution for some firms – but for others, this new set-up won’t be on the table [2023]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: BBC    

  • faviconThe Four-Day Week research from the Henley Business School — Too good to be true? Not according to this research. Surveying 500 businesses and 2000 employees, the report explores the benefits of working fewer days to both organisations and workers [2023]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week, Research   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: Various    

  • faviconNo more Fridays — The results of the 6 months trial shift to a 4-day workweek in 2022 were overwhelmingly positive: companies in the program reported increased revenue and improved employee health and well-being, and had a positive impact on the environment [2023]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: Business Insider    

  • faviconPay gap between bosses and employees must be reduced, UK workers say — The majority of the widening income gap was caused by a reduction in the disposable incomes of the UK’s poorest 20% of households, while the disposable incomes of the richest 20% of households grew [2024]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: Trickle-down Economics   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconBasic income: why we need to start talking about money. Many aren’t getting their basic needs met in the UK. UBI could change this – if we can believe we deserve it [2024]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: UBI   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: openDemocracy    

  • faviconIndependent analysis of the South Cambridgeshire District Council’s four-day week trial shows that it was a clear success; higher employee commitment and reduced turnover, better mental & physical health and motivation, all while it continued to deliver the same quality of services [2024]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week, Research   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: Various    

  • faviconRevolt of the Robots — We should keep fighting for better jobs and better working conditions. But the battle against workplace technology is an unequal one. The real economic struggle now is for the redistribution of wealth generated by labour and machines, through universal basic income, the revival of the commons and other such policies [2018]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: How to be Human, Workplace Dictatorship   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: Independent Blogs    

  • faviconModern welfare in the United Kingdom is a universal (dis)credit to Beveridge. Adequate social security is vital to the functioning of society, as well as to the health and well-being of the population and Universal Basic Income can help by offering stable, individual, non-means tested, and unconditional money transfers, to all citizens [2024]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Research, UBI   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: Scientific Journals    

  • faviconUK Government axes ‘gimmick’ anti-strike law as it plans major reset for workers’ rights. Insiders said the new law had not been used to resolve any dispute so far, stating that an “adversarial approach” over several years had seen the UK lose more days to strike action than France [2024]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconWealthy nations rely on a large net appropriation of labour and resources from the rest of the world through unequal exchange in international trade and global commodity chains. Southern wages are 87–95% lower than Northern wages for work of equal skill. While Southern workers contribute 90% of the labour that powers the world economy, they receive only 21% of global income [2024]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: Research   
    Comments   
    Country: DE,  UK,  US   
    Source: Scientific Journals    

  • faviconEveryone working less – with no reduction in pay – could be a solution to everything from Britain’s chronic productivity problems and the mental health pandemic to the broken care sector. It’s better for the planet, too: the overworked drive more, eat more processed food & buy more disposable items [2023]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week, Environment, Mental Health   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconIn a ground-breaking public attitudes study, the Fairness Foundation has unveiled striking insights into the web of factors influencing the health and well-being of people in Britain. One of the most significant revelations from the study is the pervasive impact of work on people’s health across age groups and income brackets [2023]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Research   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: New Statesman