The four-day week may not be relevant once AI is here

As firms worry about employees’ desire to work from home and talk of universal basic income grows Chris Blackhurst considers the dilemma facing those who need to plan ahead

- Chris Blackhurst

The world of work is in a state of flux. JP Morgan is ordering its staff back into the office five days a week, resulting in a hunt for extra space to accommodate the 14,000 desks needed at its London Canary Wharf headquarters. Amazon has taken the same line. Meta, Starbucks and Dell are also moving against remote working and WFH. But Citigroup has said most of its employees can work remotely two days a week, and is refitting its £1bn Canary Wharf building.

Meanwhile, 12 Labour MPs (and one Green) are pressing for an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill, currently wending its way through parliament, for a four-day week to become law.

At the same time, the universal basic income (UBI) movement is gaining traction; this is the idea of a no-strings-attached payment made regularly to everyone in society. Trials are taking place all over the globe, including in Ireland and Scotland. A pilot will soon be launched, in Jarrow and Finchley, that will see people receive £1600 a month for doing precisely nothing. The effect it has on their health and wellbeing, and whether they choose to do additional work, will be monitored.

UBI is not new: the concept has been mooted since Thomas More wrote Utopia in 1516. It’s being given a modern dusting as a possible solution to the advance of AI. Among its leading proponents is Andy Burnham. The mayor of Greater Manchester argues it could serve as an antidote to technology’s onslaught and, by improving people’s lives, could save the government money by reducing social harm. Indeed, one trial showed that recipients were more likely to develop startup businesses and less likely to get divorced.