Just a year ago, the four-day workday seemed like something far away, a utopian labor system that we thought was impossible to apply in our country and with considerable opposition from employers. Today, however, it is the revolution that many companies around the world are carrying out. From the Telefónica pilot project to the law reform in Belgium, the world has embraced new ways to improve productivity and reduce employee burnout: working fewer days is not less performance.
It all comes to a head today, in the UK. The British country is preparing for the largest ever test of a four-day working day, with more than 70 companies participating.
taking the lead. The United Kingdom has taken a step forward with what will be the clearest example that the four-day journey is the future. In addition, the model that will apply is the fairest to date: the employees of 70 companies (almost 3,000 workers) will receive the total salary without any reduction but working only four days. Of course, only during the six months that the test will last and in which researchers from universities such as Cambridge, Oxford or Boston College will study the impacts.
And what companies are determined to be part of such a revolution? There is everything from banks, consultancies, software developers, law firms, car companies, construction companies, advertisers or educational centers.
The tendency. Many companies have been testing this labor system for months in different parts of the world. In Spain, Telefónica became the first great spanish company in getting it up and running, although it did not quite convince the employees, as we reported in this Magnet article. The same thing happened with Desigual, which established a reduction in working hours but with a decrease in salary. Dell did the same in the Netherlands, also with a salary reduction proportional to that decrease. And Canon proposes a model that is more in line with the model defended by British theorists: reduce working time without lowering their salary.
The debate remains the same. The conversation about what is the best method to carry out the four-day work week without influencing losses (either productivity or income) began when a few months ago, the Government of Belgium carried out a reform of the law to implement a working day of four days but in this case it had a trick, because it did not imply working less, but putting in more hours fewer days. In other words, the working day is not reduced, but employees can choose to work more one week to rest one day the next. But the 40 hours a week are still there.
It should not be like that. According to some labor experts and projects such as 4 Day Week Global, which is precisely one of the promoters of the start-up in the United Kingdom, the most effective solution to undertake this model must be to reduce the hours worked but without applying a salary reduction, or work more the rest of the days, or worsen the productivity of the company. In other words, the complete opposite of what Telefónica, Desigual or Dell are doing.
The Valencian solution wins followers. Since we have seen that lowering the salary of employees who work only four days has not been very successful, autonomies such as the Valencian Community have promoted other measures. In this case, the Valencian government proposed to provide subsidies to companies that carry out this system so that they are not afraid of a possible reduction in income by working fewer days.
A budget of up to 10 million to compensate companies for that day less. Although it is still far from what the United Kingdom is going to experience today, companies and governments will have to warm their heads more to find the best way out of this labor puzzle as soon as possible.
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