Four-day week with full pay compensation - a British pilot project offers hope

A British study recently reported on the positive results of a pilot project: 61 companies allowed their almost 3,000 employees to work four instead of five days a week and achieved more turnover than before (increase of 1.4%), the sickness rate fell by 65%, the number of resignations fell by 57% and four out of ten employees felt less stressed. Wages remained the same. Sounds like a promising innovation (https://www.4dayweek.com/news-posts/4-day-week-uk-results).

From the perspective of social workers, you can already hear a collective sigh of relief. Four days instead of five plus standby in emergencies - a dream.

But somehow the report seems strange. It brings to mind the tough battles of workers and trade unions who pushed through the eight-hour working day after the First World War, after the average daily working time in the trades had risen to 14 to 16 by the middle of the 19th century and the working week thus amounted to 80 to 85 hours. So now a voluntary reduction in weekly working days and hours?

The pilot project in the UK is not the first or only one of its kind. In Germany, Volkswagen overcame its corporate crisis back in the 1990s by introducing the four-day week, albeit without compensatory pay. What was a cost-cutting model at the time is seen as an idea for the future elsewhere: in New Zealand - where the founders of the "4 Day Week Global" campaign started in 2018 - as well as in Spain, Australia and even Japan, shorter working hours are being tested. In Business Studies, the background is always economic. All the better when Business Studies goals go hand in hand with social and individual goals.

I still remember my first study: at the beginning of the 1990s, the Karstadt Group was complaining about a shortage of managers and wanted to see its female employees rise to management positions. So we investigated the career obstacles and indeed some taboos were dropped, such as the requirement to move from branch to branch at every career step or the supposed impossibility of holding a management position part-time (Fischer 1993).

So they do exist, the Business Studies reasons for creating more humane working conditions. Nevertheless, the four-day week campaign is surprising at first glance, given the current impression of an increasing shortage of skilled workers, as the measure additionally reduces the potential workforce. However, the main attraction and thus the Business Studies benefit of reducing the number of working days to four per week lies in the increased productivity, which pays off accordingly for the companies involved. It is one of the foundations of the campaign - the 100-80-100 model - according to which at least 100% productivity is to be achieved with 100% pay in 80% working time.

The danger therefore lies in the self-exploitation and work intensification of employees. However, according to the report (4 Day Week Global 2023), this effect appears to be offset by suitable restructuring measures in the participating companies. There is no other explanation for the favorable values for increasing physical and mental health, better sleep, less stress, greater job satisfaction and an equal division of family tasks between parents.

These average values relate to a large number of sectors, including personal services such as the healthcare sector. In the end, three questions remain: Is such an innovation also conceivable for social work? What organizational precautions are necessary in order to be able to work professionally? And when will this attempt begin in the fields of social work in Germany?