Council whistleblower ‘ashamed’ of four-day work week: "I pretend I still work five days"
22 January 2025, 01:56
An ‘embarrassed’ council worker has blown the lid on their office's controversial four-day work week, admitting they lie to friends and family about their hours to avoid being called 'lazy'.
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In an anonymous letter, the council worker revealed the problems of the four-day work week implemented by the Liberal Democrat-run South Cambridgeshire District Council.
The council started giving workers less hours on full pay in 2023, and has ignored the government’s orders to halt the practice.
The council official said they pretend to work the full five days to friends and family to avoid being called ‘lazy’.
The letter, shared online by Independent councillor Dan Lentell, described the council office as a “very sad” and “isolating” workplace.
Meanwhile, the Lib Dem-led council insists productivity has increased, even as critics slam the arrangement as a waste of taxpayer money.
The insider’s letter paints a starkly different picture - the letter reads: “I work at the council here at South Cambs. I’m writing this because I want everyone to know what it’s really like to work under the 4-day week here.
“If I’m talking to family or friends about work who don’t know about the four-day week, I pretend I’m working a five-day week like everyone else.
“I’m ashamed and afraid to be labelled ‘lazy’ or get remarks like ‘typical council, hardly working’.”
They added “I feel the public have lost trust in us.”
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The letter continued: “I just pretend it isn’t happening to people in the outside world because I don’t want the embarrassment of having to explain how it all works and feeling like a scrounger. The guilt burden is huge.”
The official added that having a lie-in on their day off made them feel “inadequate” and “not good enough”, and likened the secrecy around their work schedule to “working for MI6.”
“It’s a very strange feeling doing the shopping or walking the dog when you know everyone else is at work – and I don’t like it,” they said.
The letter described the office—where workers are only required to show up in person once a week—feels “cold and isolating.”
The employee also claimed that many people only work three days, creating a ghost-town atmosphere on Mondays and Fridays: “You could hear a pin drop.”
Employers apparently had to do the same workload in less hours, and the letter described the stress in the officer as ‘palpable’.
New recruits, it said, have “struggled” to integrate into teams, making collaboration difficult.
Adding fuel to the fire, the council’s own data shows some services worsened during the scheme’s trial period, with average call wait times rising by 14.5% and just a third of key performance targets being met.
“Would you want to pay council tax knowing your council gets a paid day off every week?” the worker asked, calling the policy “depressing” and questioning its value for money.
With public frustration mounting, South Cambridgeshire Council faces growing pressure to scrap the four-day week experiment, but leaders remain defiant, insisting it’s a step toward modern working practices.
