What are the benefits of a four-day week?

DW (English)

What if you could work for four days instead of five for the same pay? Just a dream or a feasible idea? A pilot study with 45 companies in Germany has put it to the test, and the results are surprising.

Transcript

00:00A four-day working week makes it possible to own a dog and spend time with it.

00:06Yasmin Moradi-Gohar has been working four days a week instead of five for a year now.

00:12Her salary is the same, but she now has Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays off.

00:18Her employer wants to be more attractive to employees.

00:22And it's working.

00:23I've always wanted to have a dog, but thought, okay, can I manage that alongside my job?

00:29But the four-day week has encouraged me to take the risk and give it a go.

00:34Yasmin works for an IT company in Munich.

00:37To ensure that everything is done in four days, Managing Director Martin Farmer has

00:42cut meeting times and introduced so-called focus times, among other things.

00:48These are times when the work should not be disturbed by phone calls, emails or text messages.

00:57The focus time lets you say I'm going to take a two-hour session and concentrate fully

01:02and switch off all other media.

01:04I get almost as much done as I usually do in a whole day when I'm being disturbed all

01:08the time.

01:11Yasmin is responsible for the staff.

01:14The four-day week is also intended to attract skilled workers.

01:18She advertises the shorter working hours on social media and has seen applications increase.

01:25They find it very exciting that we really want to get involved and that we're trying

01:30it out and also open to these new working models.

01:34The feedback is always positive.

01:36Of course, some people are still a little sceptical as to whether it will really work

01:40for them.

01:41But they're actually pleased that we want to go down this path.

01:47About 400 kilometers further north of the central German city of Weimar, window manufacturer

01:52Eurolarm also tried out a four-day week.

01:56Unlike in Munich, the daily working hours were increased from eight to nine.

02:01The trial was not a success.

02:03The company is now working five days again.

02:06Window manufacturer Christ Westphal is disappointed.

02:09He would have liked to keep his Fridays off work.

02:15I could just do things with my family on that day or I could do household chores and I also

02:20scheduled all my appointments like doctor's appointments on Fridays.

02:26A survey showed that one third of employees were dissatisfied with the four-day week.

02:32Family reasons were cited more than any other.

02:34For Sandra Luzios, head of marketing, the nine-hour working day was too long.

02:42I just don't want to be picking up my children from kindergarten or school at four o'clock.

02:48So I'm glad that we're back to the five-day week.

02:51I finish work here at 2 p.m. again now and have more time with my kids.

02:58Managing director Henning Röper hoped to attract skilled workers for the four-day week.

03:03But customer contact has suffered as a result, partly because the company found it difficult

03:08to respond to spontaneous customer requests.

03:17We've lost flexibility and the flexibility is actually the biggest advantage that small

03:22and medium-sized businesses have.

03:28The Berlin-based management consultancy Intrepreneur teamed up with the University of Münster

03:34to trial the four-day week in 45 companies.

03:39The results were largely positive.

03:4173% of the companies kept the four-day week after the trial ended.

03:49Some companies that are advertising the four-day week are receiving three times as many applications.

03:55That's a large number, especially when there's a shortage of skilled workers.

03:58But there are also other effects.

04:00Employee retention, higher productivity, fewer meetings, more focus on the core business.

04:06All very positive effects.

04:08Employee health and satisfaction have also increased, as in Jasmin's case.

04:13She has more time for her dog and sports.

04:16And with that, one of her employer's goals of retaining skilled workers with the four-day

04:21week has been achieved.

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