Future of the workforce: Careers for work-life balance, four-day week

How would you like a four-day workweek?

It may sound like a trick question, but it could become an increasingly common one as employers look for alternative ways to attract staff and boost productivity.

Research from job search site FlexJobs suggests that a wide range of industries, from finance to recruitment, are opening up to the idea of a shorter workweek.

Based on analysis of more than 50,000 U.S. companies' job postings, FlexJobs found that over the past year the following 10 industries were the most likely to hire for flexible positions, including those with four-day weeks:

Of course, the notion of a condensed workweek is nothing new. Fans of the four-day week have been espousing its benefits from a productivity and cost-cutting perspective since the 1970s. Indeed, in 1974, when the British government introduced a three-day workweek following an energy shortage, a national survey reported a 5 percent increase in productivity levels.

However, with job disruption on the up and employees demanding greater flexibility at work, its scope is growing. A lifestyle that was once limited to a select few now "fits with more industries and jobs than you might imagine," Jim Link, chief human resources officer (North America) at global recruitment agency Randstad, told CNBC Make It.

And it appears some employers are keen to make the shift.