REDUCING working hours is the “best bet” for workers’ health and increases productivity, according to a new study from the Institute for Employment Rights (IER).

Researchers spoke to union reps at 13 factories across Britain and found evidence that the benefits of shorter working hours are clear.

Employees in the manufacturing, engineering, automotive and shipbuilding sectors are the focus of this second phase of an IER report on work-life balance.

The study details successful union efforts to win reductions in working hours without any loss of pay, finding that reductions in working time have only been minor, despite nine in 10 workers supporting reduced shorter hours.

Workers at six plants had their hours decreased from 39 or 40 hours to 37 in the 1990s, but they have only seen minor reductions since then.

The IER highlighted the potential for better work-life balance to reduce sickness absence.

Many of those interviewed said they had seen a general reduction in working overtime following the Covid-19 pandemic.

They suggested that this could be due to a renewed understanding of how important it is to spend time with family and friends following consecutive lockdowns.

One site convener at the Bentley car factory in Crewe, Cheshire, said that, thanks to shorter working times, ”morale is a lot higher, productivity is better, people [are] doing a better job because they are less fatigued [and] happier going home at three. They are off sick less [and have] less chance of getting injured.”

Report author Professor Phil Taylor said: “Where unions engaged around productivity and efficiency, workers and employers were usually able to agree a deal.”