These are the technologies that could make your dreams of working a four-day week possible

What would you do if you only worked four days a week? Start up a side hustle, go to the gym, finally start writing that novel?

A few weeks ago, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) general secretary Frances O'Grady said the four-day week could be achieved in the UK, and the power of technology could make it happen.

A new report by Intel UK and the futurologist Ian Pearson has also backed these claims, saying changes to work could be possible in the future, thanks, in part, to 5G.

The report details how the next generation in mobile technology could enable us to have more time on our hands. This is because having much better internet speeds across the UK will lead to improved productivity and societal changes that could end the five-day working week.

But it's not just 5G that could bring about this change; there are many new emerging technologies that could fully take-off if we manage to have better mobile signal.

According to Pearson and Intel UK, these are the technologies we need for the four-day 5G week to work...

1. Data Centres

Once we’re all connected up by 5G, all the data that flows across the mobile networks will need to be stored somewhere. That’s where data centres come in.

The report says that data centres need to focus on things like AI, memory and storage in new ways to better serve the smart and connected world we’ll be living in.

2. Internet of Things (IoT)

All those connected devices, powered by 5G, are going to get smarter. Soon, there could be around 50 billion IoT devices in the world.

The next generation of these connected devices will have the capacity to learn and work with each other with less human interference and management. We will simply control systems from afar and gather insights from the data collected. This will give us more time to work on other things, enabling us to get more done, faster.

3. Artificial intelligence

We know that AI is going to be the technology that powers the future, but this will only be possible with 5G.

As mobile networks enable things like IoT devices to become smarter, AI will be necessary to extract the right data and analytics from these devices.

Speed is crucial for the efficiency of AI and faster 5G mobile networks will provide such speed.

Intel and Pearson predict that humans will work alongside AI, delegating tasks to robots, therefore freeing up time so they can become more productive overall.

4. Autonomous vehicles

5G is key to the future of autonomous vehicles or self-driving cars.

Autonomous cars need to be constantly connected to the internet in order to process the data they see in front of them and use it to drive safely. The development of 5G networks is therefore crucial for the future of safe self-driving cars.

How does this relate to a four-day week? Intel believes that as we will be spending less time directly behind the wheel, humans will be able to use our commute time to complete tasks we wouldn’t be able to achieve when driving.

5. Virtual offices

The arrival of 5G will mean no more poor connections outside the office; instead you will be able to work from anywhere you want and still be connected to your colleagues.

Intel and Pearson are even saying that technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality and even holograms will connect up workers in different places, in much better ways than is currently possible.

When will this all be possible?

The UK is set to start the roll out of 5G technologies by 2020, but it could be longer before all the networks receive full coverage.

Not only that but these technologies will need to be improved and developed before they can ultimately benefit the UK's overall productivity.

However, O'Grady believes a four-day week could be possible within this century.

Furthermore, Pearson is optimistic about the impact these technological advances will have on our overall lives. He told the Standard: “Our future lives will rely more and more on intelligence emerging from a smart environment. 5G will be the transmission medium that allows all this data to be collected, processed by AI, and useful results relayed to us to enrich every part of our lives on the move.

“It effectively moves the mobile internet and IoT into another gear and brings us into a new era of connected ultra-smart living, enhanced eventually by the graphics capabilities of augmented reality.”