Researcher's verdict on the four-day working week: “It's hard to drive a bus 20 per cent faster”
A four-day working week may sound tempting. More time for family, more time to train for the spring marathon, or whatever else you spend your weekends doing. But what are the strengths and challenges of a four-day working week? We asked one of Denmark's leading labour market researchers.
It caused a stir when Copenhagen-based IT company Iih Nordic introduced a four-day working week in 2017. Since then, it has been talked about in several companies and in the media. Can it be done? And does it have an effect?
For Iih Nordic CEO Henrik Stenmann, the decision to introduce a four-day working week was based on a desire to attract highly specialised labour to the company.
- We realised that if we started using different tools, we could go out and save a lot of time and make the work easier and more fun to do. At the same time, more of our employees were being approached by headhunters, so the four-day work week was also a way to keep headhunters away and attract new people.
A large part of the tools they have introduced at Iih Nordic has been about avoiding constant distractions for employees. At the same time, it is now commonplace to hear concentration music around the office.
- When you remove part of your basis for making money by working fewer days, you have to think differently," says Henrik Stenmann and says he believes the initiative has had an effect.
- I feel that we have happier employees. At the same time, we have slowly but surely begun to dare to think differently as an organisation. I think this has made us better equipped for the future," he says.
How much notice do I need to give for overtime?
There is often confusion about how much notice an employee needs to give for overtime work. And it's also very vague. It depends on the individual collective labour agreement.
The collective labour agreement will often state exactly how much notice an employee must be given about future overtime, which varies greatly from collective agreement to collective agreement. Some collective agreements entitle the employee to several weeks' notice, while in others it's just a few days.
In addition, the collective agreements also state whether the employee should receive an extra allowance if the notice limit is not met.
If you are not covered by a collective labour agreement, your employment contract or an employee handbook should state how long before overtime must be notified.
It is often recommended by trade unions that employees create a timesheet that is regularly approved by their employer. This helps provide an overview of how many hours you have worked each day and prevents discrepancies over the number of overtime hours.
But paper slips can get lost, accidentally get thrown in the rubbish bin or spilled with coffee. That's why many companies benefit from using Intempus to keep track of how many hours have been worked and when. Intempus can record overtime hours and then find out how much time off in lieu the employee is owed or how much overtime pay is due.
Fewer days requires increased productivity
The Iih Nordic story sounds like a real success story. But if you ask one of the country's leading labour market researchers Per Kongshøj, the introduction of a four-day work week does not necessarily mean a happier working life. He says that the talk of a four-day working week is only a few years old and that it has been heard in some industries more than others.
- "It's mostly talked about in consultancy and creative activities. There's an idea that if the brain is allowed to relax for three days, it can make you more creative on the other days," he says.
At Ihh Nordic, employees have to work four days, but are still paid for five days' work. However, Per Kongshøj doesn't believe that fewer working hours is the solution to a stressful working life.
- If people work four days instead of five, it will require them to increase productivity by a significant amount to earn back their salary in the same amount of time. This would require a productivity increase of up to 20 per cent.
- You might be able to do that in some places, but it's difficult to drive a bus 20 per cent faster, for example," he says, explaining that there hasn't been much research in this area, so it's not known whether and how much productivity will increase with a change in the number of working days.
- The question is what is expected of each individual over the four days. If you're expected to produce the same amount, you need to get your hands out of your pockets," says Per Kongshøj.
Less work in the future
Based on the past, Per Kongshøj predicts that Danes will work less in the future. In the past, working weeks have gone from six working days to five, working hours have gone from 40 to 37 hours, and the amount of both holidays and maternity leave has increased significantly.
He believes that four working days may become the norm over time, but that it is increased flexibility for the individual employee that will be most important in the Danish labour market.
- I know that people are increasingly demanding flexibility - both in terms of individual working hours, but also in life. There are phases where you can give it your all and phases where it's a little harder to do so," he says, explaining that families with children are particularly in demand for increased flexibility.
- That's where you see the balance problems. The problem for them is not that they have to work five days a week, but that they have to pick up children before the centres close. A four-day working week can't solve that," he says.
And for companies considering introducing a four-day working week, the labour market researcher believes it's important to look at not only working hours but also workflows.
- You have to look at whether you can communicate smarter and not put all cc on your emails. It's about making workflows easier, so you can get what you used to do in five days done in four days," he says.
Keeping track of your working hours?
A time tracking system like Intempus makes it easy to keep track of the number of hours employees work - whether they work 4 or 5 days a week and whether they are on overtime, leave, or subject to other circumstances that affect their working hours. Intempus can also be integrated with other systems, including both quality assurance and payroll and accounting systems, so data can easily flow between systems. This can save your organisation hours of administration and, not least, errors.
If you're curious about the possibilities of Intempus and how a digital solution from us can be customised to the needs of your business, you can try designing your own time tracking solution here:
You are also welcome to give us a call at: +45 26390400
