Is the Weekend Disappearing? The 100-Year History & Future of Our Days Off (2026)

The weekend is 100 years old – but have ‘skiveday Fridays’ and hybrid working ruined it for everyone?

The concept of the weekend as we know it is only 100 years old. In 1926, Henry Ford changed the shape of the week, announcing that the workers at his factories would now do five eight-hour days instead of six, with no cut in pay. Ford did not invent the weekend – the idea had been bubbling under for a century, in campaigns by trade unions, religious groups and progressive employers – but by putting his considerable industrial weight behind it, the two-day chunk of freedom was born.