The 4-day work week: benefits and challenges

The term “flexibility” has become central in the world of work today. A flexible company, open to discussion and layout solutions, will be more likely to attract candidates and limit turnover.

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In Luxembourg, 40% of companies would have already lost a candidate due to the lack of a policy of teleworking attractive enough. In this context, there is growing interest in the 4-day week.

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The gradual reduction of work is a fundamental trend in social change in recent decades. As the Luxembourg Chamber of Employees recalls, The 48-hour week was reduced to 44 hours in 1962. It was then necessary to wait until the 1970s for the 5-day work week, 8 hours per day, to be established.

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Today, some companies are considering or experimenting with a 4-day week with no loss of pay. This therefore implies working 40 hours over 4 days instead of 5, i.e. working 10 hours per day. But is this model applicable to everyone?

Complex implementation by sector

Administrative and organizational challenges

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First of all, moving to a 4-day week involves an increased administrative burden. It is necessary to manage schedules, coordinate teams, avoid understaffing and maintain service continuity.

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These adjustments require time and resources, which can be a major challenge for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). However, in Luxembourg, 99.5% of businesses are SMEs, 87% of which have fewer than 10 employees.

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Setting up this system in the Grand Duchy would require a review of the labour code, as recently pointed out by the Union of Luxembourg Enterprises (UEL). In fact, in the current state, a tenth hour of work per day would amount to an overtime hour. To prevent the employer from having to pay 4 hours of overtime to employees who would benefit from the 4-day week, the legal texts should then be reviewed.

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Sectors that are incompatible with the 4-day week

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Some jobs require a continuous physical presence, making the application of this model extremely complicated.

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This is the case for example:

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• health and emergency services sectors, which operate 24/7 and require teams to take turns;
• catering, where it is necessary to ensure continuous service to customers;
• industry and logistics, where it is difficult to adapt production or delivery chains;
• of education, where school rhythms and programs do not always allow for the organization of time.

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In these areas, reducing workdays would mean increasing daily hours and/or hiring additional staff. This represents additional costs and will contrary to the objectives sought by the 4-day work week.

A lever for a balance between life and personal life

On the other hand, for companies where a physical presence is not always essential and whose activity is organized according to projects and objectives to be achieved, it is easier to adopt a flexible model of working hours.

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In the sectors of tech and IT, communication and marketing, consulting and finance, The 4-day work week can be a win-win solution for employers and employees.

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In particular, it would allow reduce the risk of stress and burn-out and to participate in a better balance between private and professional life. In addition, it is a solution to reduce travel times, which represents savings in time, money and CO2.

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For employers, a 4-day week can therefore be an effective strategy to improve the productivity and motivation of teams.

Contrasting results by country

En belgium, since 2022, employees in the private sector can ask to work 38 hours (full-time) over 4 days. That means 9.5 hour days. But we note that less than 1% of workers opted for this regime.

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La sweden has also had mixed results in its experiments relating to the 4-day week, with gains in well-being, but organizational difficulties.

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Between 2015 and 2019, Iceland carried out a large-scale project over the 4-day week. In addition, 2,500 employees were able to go from 40 to 35 or 36 hours of work without a pay cut.

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Researchers have seen a reduction in stress, exhaustion, and improved work-life balance. The study was therefore considered a success and led to significant changes in the country.

Is the 4-day work week a model for the future?

In Luxembourg, a public petition calling for the 4-day week was opened at the end of 2024. Having collected more than 2,500 signatures to date, it shows a real interest in the subject. If it reaches its objective (4,500 signatures), a debate will have to be organized in the House.

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This would then be an opportunity to discuss the feasibility of the project. Car yes The 4-day work week is getting a lot of attention., its implementation requires careful consideration, in particular concerning the extended length of working days (is a 10-hour working day really desirable?) , and an adaptation to the context of each company.

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For HR, the challenge is to find the right balance between flexibility and performance.

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This trend, which is still in the experimental stage, could well redefine work organization in the years to come.

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