For six months, 41 German companies participated in a program launched by the “Intrapreneur” company, which involves reducing working hours, or even limiting themselves to four working days per week, which is a historical demand of unions in the country. Germany.
The University of Münster and the international initiative “4 Day Week Global” also participated in coordinating the project, which now includes eight countries, including UK Australia and Portugal.
The main conclusion reached by the German study was that the four-day work week without any change in the number of working hours per week ensures a “significant” improvement in the employee’s mental and physical health.
This was monitored for six months using smart watches, hair samples and self-assessment.
The study highlighted that this finding contradicts “the idea that having to complete the workload in less time can lead to an increase in the stress felt” by the employee.
On average, participants experienced 178 minutes less stress during the week compared to 191 minutes before the experiment began.
They exercised more and slept an average of 38 minutes more each week.
The researchers expected that these “positive effects” on health would lead to a “long-term reduction in absenteeism from work.”
Those included in the study considered that their productivity had increased slightly, but their workload had not changed at the same time.
However, the study was cautious about the issue of productivity, and pointed out other limitations.
For example, the four-day work week has not been proven to increase a company’s profits, or reduce sick leave or its carbon footprint.
However, after the experiment, 39 percent of companies decided to adopt a four-day work week, while 34 percent reported that they would continue the experiment.
Between 10 and 50 employees work in more than half of the companies included in the study, in the services, manufacturing or construction sectors.
Since the Covid-19 crisis, working four days a week has become an ongoing topic of discussion in Germany.
This issue was one of the most prominent demands of the Train Drivers Union during its dispute with the national railway company, Deutsche Bahn, last March.
The steel industry unions also put forward this demand, but agreed with the employers in December to “collectively” reduce working hours from 35 to 32 hours, with partial salary compensation.
