Will the four-day week become the norm in major Western economies? The issue is debated and the assets are divided into two opposing groups: on the one hand, almost 8 out of 10 employees are in favor and, on the other, 7 out of 10 bosses resist the idea. If the benefit for employees seems obvious, the advantage for companies is less so.
In an attempt to have an objective approach, the 4 Day Week Global was created, an international program launched in 2021 to experience this new organization of work in companies around the world. And after Germany, it is France’s turn to enter the testing phase. The organization is currently recruiting volunteer companies that want to test the experience for six months starting in February 2025.
The program includes a planning phase that will last two months, between December and January. Employers will be trained, work organization methods will be defined and control processes will be established. The idea is to scientifically measure elements such as the well-being and stress level of employees, but also the evolution of the company’s turnover, the absenteeism rate, productivity, profitability or even the impact on the environment.
Six months of testing starting in February
“The idea is to work with companies, adapt to them,” explains Philippe du Payrat, co-founder of 4jours.work (which in France represents the Global 4 Day Week, more appropriate if it is a week of 4 days every two ). working hours, rotations between employees, weekly closures, coordination with teleworking… We must respond to economic imperatives.”
In Germany, for example, in addition to financial performance measurements and individual interviews, connected watches have been distributed to employees to measure their stress level and sleep quality.
After this preparatory phase, the experimentation itself will begin. Starting February 1, 2025 and for six months, candidate companies will implement the four-day week according to the chosen methods.
Among them, we find a design office in Auch with 16 employees (Addendum), but also an educational actor in the Rhône with 100 employees, an agri-food industrialist in Loiret (30 employees), a Parisian design with 8 employees (Circulab) or, most surprisingly, a bakery with 13 employees in the Nantes region (Monsieur B). The list is not yet closed and 4days.work It is open to new applications.
For the organizers of this experiment, the results that will be extracted from it must be as objective as possible.
The fall in productivity in France
Weekly working hours have not really changed in Western countries for almost a century. It was in 1926 when Henry Ford revolutionized the working day by establishing a five-day week in his automobile factories, when previously the norm was six days, at a rate of 10 hours a day. At that time, he considered that the productivity gains generated by his new production organization would allow him to reduce the working day.
“Today we work on average half as much as in 1926 and we produce much more, but the five-day week has not changed,” says Philippe du Payrat. “Mexicans work much harder than Norwegians, for example, but they are much less rich. The issue today is the organization of work.”
In some countries that, like the United States, suffer from very strong hiring pressures, the implementation of the four-day week is becoming an increasingly used argument to demonstrate its attractiveness. According to 4 Day Week Global, job offers promoting it increased by 50% between 2021 and 2023.
However, the obstacles remain numerous and the opponents also have arguments to make. 72% of small business owners who are opposed, for example (July 2024 fiduciary barometer) highlight that their customers have different rhythms (41% of respondents), that there are intangible opening hours (37%) and that this would lead to a drop in production (31%).
Fears are particularly strong in France, where the number of working hours per inhabitant is already one of the lowest in the OECD and where overall productivity has been falling dangerously in recent years. However, historically, it is precisely productivity increases that have allowed the establishment of new work organizations that are more favorable to employees.
Source: BFM TV