Survey finds most Irish people favour a shorter working day

Two thirds of Irish people are in favour of a shorter working day, according to research carried out by iReach.

Most people work an average eight-hour day, but think that their productivity would increase if this was reduced by around two hours.

The research also revealed women (72%) are more in favour of a shorter day than men (56%).

A six-hour working day is currently being trailed in Sweden to see if it improves people's mental and physical well being.

The majority of adults in Ireland, 84%, are unaware of the Swedish experiment and just 16% say they are aware of it.

The survey found that 70% of the people who think shorter hours would increase employee productivity have children, but at the same time 63% of people without children share the same opinion.