The “4-day working week” has been mentioned quite often in the news and in various articles recently. The name says more or less everything about the idea. In this article, we look at how a 4-day working week works and what its advantages and disadvantages are.
How does it work?
With a 4-day working week, the employer chooses 1 day a week when its employees do not work. To make sense, this is usually Monday or Friday. The company sets this day either for everyone or on a rotating basis. For example, 1 team works on Friday but not on Monday, and the other way round. This day is not used for working from home, and it is not meant for catching up on unfinished work that employees did not manage to do that week. However, each company has to set up its own 4-day working week system, as there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each employer sets its own specific conditions.
When a 4-day working week is introduced, the company cannot always keep running the way it did before. For example, if employees had 1 meeting every day, these meetings have to be cut back so that every employee can get their work done and work these 4 days a week. This creates more pressure to make sure that no time at work is wasted and that employees are as efficient as possible.
At the same time, it does not mean working 10 hours a day, so 40 hours in total, but only on 4 days. It means working 4 days a week for 8 hours a day, as you are used to. So you only work 32 hours that week. Another key point is that your pay stays the same as for a full working week. Otherwise, the system would not make much sense.
What can be difficult
Probably one of the most important things is how the work itself is organised. Working only 4 days a week while your workload stays the same requires excellent organisation of working time. Employees also need to be better at setting work priorities. If they can do this, however, they usually work much more efficiently. Most surveys show that during a 4-day working week, employees are happier, more efficient and just as productive.
However, employees need a certain amount of discipline. It does not usually come naturally and has to be practised. The transition can therefore be a little difficult at first. But employees can get used to it quite quickly, especially if they are motivated by the prospect of 3 days just for themselves. It is easier to focus only on work when you know that you can focus on your personal life for half the week. The employer therefore cannot expect everything to run like clockwork in the very first week after the 4-day working week is introduced. In the long term, however, companies that have introduced a 4-day working week have seen positive results.
Challenges for employees
A 4-day working week is a challenge not only for employers but also for employees. It may take some time for employees to switch to the mindset of “I work 4 days and have 3 days off”. If someone is used to working in the evenings or at weekends, they need to change the way they think and their habits.
The whole point of this system is for employees to get proper rest and become more efficient and motivated. But this is not possible if they work in the evening or at the weekend and have no time for themselves and their family.
The 4-day working week reflects today’s working reality, what employees want, and also the fact that it is fine to leave work when I have 1 or 2 unread emails that can wait a day. I do not need to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week because of them. So-called “hustle culture” (the idea that the more I work and the less I sleep and have time for myself, the more of a hero I am) is starting to fade, and thank goodness for that.
There is much more stress these days than ever before, the demands on employees keep growing and there seems to be no end to the work. The word burnout is becoming part of everyday conversations, and we all have our phones in our hands all the time.
However, a well-designed 4-day working week has many benefits for both employees and employers. If the employer sets it up properly, it can definitely increase employee productivity and motivation, while also allowing employees to take a proper break from work and spend time with their family or on their hobbies. It also helps reduce stress and leads to greater overall satisfaction and mental wellbeing among employees.
Germany is currently one of the pioneering EU countries introducing a 4-day working week. You can read more about this here.
In general, then, it seems that a 4-day working week has more advantages than disadvantages. Whether it will ever reach us too is still unclear.