A four day week can work and even lead to greater productivity - Yorkshire Post Letters

It is reported that a number of groups of employees are currently seeking to work their normal weekly hours over four rather than five days.

This is not a new idea, and has many proven benefits.

For the record, during the 1980s, my staff in a small investigative department at Leeds General Infirmary successfully applied to work their contractual hours over four longer days with mutual gains for them and for the NHS.

For the service, it meant that capital equipment worth over £1m was available for use for an extra two hours every day, or, with three such machines, about an extra 30 hours of 'scanning' time every week. Within a few weeks of starting the scheme, we had eliminated our waiting lists.

For the staff, I arranged for each person's extra day off to cycle through the week so that everyone could look forward to a regular Friday and Monday break.

I retired some 24 years ago, and have no idea whether or not this win-win scheme has continued; I hope it has, but fear that small-vision bureaucracies have ensured that it has not.