The Four-Day Workweek Is the New Trend in the Professional World
Employer branding, home office, workation, mandatory time tracking, and now the four-day workweek: the professional world is in a constant state of reorientation, producing one development after another. The latest trend is the shortened workweek in the form of a four-day working week, where there is a clear distance between employer and employee expectation when it comes to implementation.
According to a study by the Hans Böckler Foundation, more than 72 percent of German employees would like to see a four-day week with no change in pay. In addition to promoting personal work-life balance and employee health, the main benefits include an increase in company productivity.
However, for many employers, implementing a four-day week is not realistic. The risk of losing sales and exacerbating skills shortages, which are already having far-reaching consequences for businesses in many places, is too great—from additional recruitment costs to fears that customer service or quality assurance could suffer.
But with Australia, Ireland, and the UK leading the way, Germany is now following suit: starting in February 2024, 50 companies from different sectors will test the shorter workweek with the same pay as part of a pilot project. It is highly unlikely that the four-day week could be adequately implemented in every professional sector, but the representative result of the planned project could certainly point the way forward for many companies.
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