German companies tested a 4-day working week – here’s the result – DW – 11/05/2024

Earlier this year, around 45 German companies launched a 4-day week project to test whether such a fundamental change in the way of working could produce positive results for employers and employees.

For six months, under the watchful eye of researchers at the University of Münster in Germany, voluntary companies allowed their employees to work fewer hours without reducing their wages. The pilot program was initiated by Berlin-based consulting company Intraprenör in cooperation with the non-profit organization 4 Day Week Global (4DWG).

Achieving the same output with fewer hours and the same pay requires greater productivity. Initially, this may mean more stress and a heavier workload – but does it have to be this way?

The key metric is productivity

To objectively assess the effects of reduced working hours, researchers did more than just conduct surveys and interviews. They also analyzed hair samples to assess stress levels and used fitness trackers to collect physiological data such as heart rate, activity level and sleep quality.

Julia Backmann, principal investigator of the pilot study, says employees generally felt better working fewer hours and remained as productive as they were with a five-day week, and in some cases were even more productive.

She told DW that participants reported significant improvements in their mental and physical health and showed fewer symptoms of stress and burnout, a finding supported by data from smart watches that monitor daily stress minutes.

According to Backmann’s findings, two out of three employees reported fewer distractions because processes were optimized. More than half of companies have redesigned their meetings to be less frequent and shorter, and one in four companies have adopted new digital tools to increase productivity.

“The potential for shorter working hours seems to be stifled by complex processes, too many meetings and low levels of digitalization,” said Carsten Meier from Intraprenör.

Surprises regarding health and environmental impacts

The study also found that participants were more physically active during the 4-day workweek and slept an average of 38 minutes more per week than participants in the five-day control group. However, monthly sick days decreased only slightly, which is a statistically insignificant difference compared to the same period a year ago.

Marika Platz of the University of Münster, who analyzed the data, said she was surprised by the number of sick days because similar studies in other countries showed significant reductions.

Another surprise, she told DW, was the lack of environmental benefits from reduced working hours during the German test, as other countries reported positive impacts from offices that could be closed completely for a day and fewer commutes, resulting in higher energy consumption. savings. She believes this is probably due to the fact that some German workers use long weekends to travel, which reduces potential energy savings.

Incorrect data from a skewed test?

However, a closer look at the study design may raise some doubts about the usefulness of the results.

Within six months, two companies voluntarily withdrew from participation and two others had to be excluded from the evaluation. Of the remaining 41 participating companies, only about a third reduced their weekly working hours by a full day.

About 20% reduced their working hours by 11-19% per day, while about half reduced their working hours by less than 10%, or about four hours per week. In total, only in 85% of cases did employees receive a full day off.

The limited number of participating companies makes the survey unrepresentative of Germany and its more than 3 million registered companies. That’s because the project has struggled to find enough interested employers since it was first mooted two years ago, Marika Platz said, because part-time work is already relatively common in Germany.

Labor market expert Enzo Weber is skeptical about the pilot project, saying that companies participating in such trials are already generally positive about the 4-day working week, making it an unrepresentative sample of the economy.

Additionally, a researcher from the University of Regensburg and the Institute for Employment Research in Germany told DW that the project’s productivity gains may not be solely due to shorter working hours, as processes and organizational structures were also modified.

Weber also believes that the positive results may not be sustainable due to increased job compression, which is likely to come at the expense of workers’ social, communication and creative aspects. “Effects often do not appear immediately, but rather over the medium term,” Weber said, noting that these studies typically only cover a relatively short period of six months.

According to Steffen Kampeter, CEO of the German Employers’ Association BDA, companies operating on international markets consciously decided not to participate in the study. He also questions productivity gains, arguing that “a four-day week on full pay is simply a significant wage increase that most companies cannot afford.”

Summary of the 4-day work week

Of the 41 companies that took part in the survey, over 70% said they planned to continue the project. Some have said they will extend the trial phase, while others are considering implementing reduced hours outright.

However, study director Backmann stressed that the study was not intended to promote the complete introduction of a 4-day working week in all sectors, but rather to examine “an innovative working time model and its effects.”

Carsten Meier from consulting firm Intraprenör added that the positive results of the study cannot be “automatically translated” into similar benefits for every company in Germany.

This article was originally written in German.