Mondays and Fridays off preferred by UK employees

With lockdown and more people working from home than ever before, we have had the opportunity to re-imagine what the working week looks like. Without the time lost commuting, more people are managing their own schedules and fitting in work around their lifestyle.

But, if you had the choice, what hours would you choose? With the classic 9-5 looking less and less appealing, Rovva, who provides guidance on starting your own business, conducted a survey of more than 1,000 UK employees to find out how people felt about flexible working, and how the working week would look if it were up to them.

The figures showed that the majority of people chose to split up their two days off and have Mondays (43%) and Fridays (48%), when given the flexibility to choose which alternative days they would have off rather than the standard weekend. Furthermore, the research showed that the majority of the UK are early birds, as 60% of people would choose the morning shift over any other time of day. This was followed by over a fifth (24%) who’d choose to work in the afternoon, and 7% in the evening.  Interestingly, those based in the South East of England are most likely to choose morning working hours (71%). On the other hand, workers in Northern Ireland prefer evenings with 14% saying so, compared to the 7% national average.  Fitting a job around your lifestyle can be difficult, but it seems to be something employees could look forward to in the future.

Those in the survey highlighted how the flexibility to choose their working hours makes them more productive because they can specify times that fit their concentration levels and workload.  The research also revealed that 60% of UK workers would select a job with greater flexibility over a slightly higher paid role. Only 30% said they would choose a higher salary. ‘Coronavirus has thrown many people a curveball, with households having to quickly adapt to new circumstances in all aspects of their lives,’ says Jon Abrahams from Rovva.  ‘Our research shows that flexibility is key for several workers and we hope that the majority of UK employers will be able and happy to offer flexibility to their employees to support their productivity and loyalty.’