HANDS up who wants to work a day less and get the same pay and benefits? Me please. I’ll vote for that.

Unsurprisingly, more than 85 per cent of people agreed this was a good idea.

Nine out of 10 Government office employees surveyed agreed that working fewer hours would improve their life-work balance and their efficiency. The Scottish Government is setting aside £10million to trial the concept.

From a business point of view, I’m sure many employers are concerned with these discussions.

There are currently many urgent issues to tackle and discussions with colleagues about working fewer hours are not on their agenda.

After almost two years of upheaval, many businesses are in a precarious position, fighting daily for survival. Those I have spoken with in retail and hospitality settings have shaken their heads in despair.

Timing is everything and now is not the right time to talk about a four-day week, due to the ongoing unfolding of Brexit and the pandemic increasing reports of costs of raw materials, considerable disruption to the supply chain and increasing challenges to recruitment across all sectors.

It is almost impossible to fill vacancies for drivers, nurses, teachers, care workers, chefs and restaurant staff, builders and maintenance workers.

Locally, you will have noticed the results of this already: empty supermarket shelves, late deliveries, restaurants and cafes with reduced opening hours or, worse, shutting up shop completely.

A four-day working week with no loss of wage in these service industries will be inflationary.

A potential 20 per cent increase in staff costs to cover face-to-face work will almost certainly result directly in a commensurate increase in prices.

This is not desirable for anyone.

I think most of us can agree it would be wonderful to be able to work one day less, especially for families and carers who have so much pressure on their free time.

But unless we can magic an increase of 20 per cent in the supply of labour, surely a four-day-week discussion should be shelved until the other shelves are full.