A four-day work week can be productive when the company is committed to it

The four-day work week can increase productivity, improve work-life balance and retain talent when there is a real commitment on the part of the company that promotes it. These are some of the conclusions of InnovaWorking, a European scientific project coordinated by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), which presented the study today in the European Parliament. Its research focuses on innovative working time policies that have been negotiated between unions and employers in different countries of the European Union.

“We have come to the conclusion that the four-day work week and flexible working time arrangements such as teleworking, vacation shopping and flextime work well. Above all, when there is a real commitment on the part of the company or entity that is committed to it,” explains the main researcher of the InnovaWorking project, Ana Belén Muñoz Ruiz, from the University Institute of Law and Economics (IUDEC) at UC3M.

In this research project, these work-life balance policies have been analyzed in both the public and private sectors in six European countries: Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland and the Netherlands.

This scientific project has determined that innovative changes in the organization of working time can increase productivity and improve the work-life balance of workers, as well as retain talent. “The four-day work week attracts many skilled workers. The first companies to implement them will have workforces that are more engaged and less willing to leave for competitors.

“It is therefore strategic for pioneering companies to opt for these measures before they become the general rule,” says another of the researchers involved in the InnovaWorking project, Pablo Gimeno Díaz de Atauri, from the Department of Labor and Social Security Law at the Complutense University of Madrid.

The researchers have also analyzed the importance of worker participation through trade unions, although they point out that it is advisable to avoid magic formulas. “Not all sectors allow the same solution. For everything to work, it is important that companies take into account their specific conditions of production, organization and shifts, and that workers’ representatives express their needs,” says Ana Belén Muñoz Ruiz, professor in the UC3M Department of Social and International Private Law.

Labor innovations beyond the technology sector

The cases studied as part of this project show that it is possible to apply these measures outside the technology sector, such as in the construction, metal or catering industries. However, they have found that not all countries respond equally to flextime.

For example, in countries where national legislation guarantees collective bargaining and collective agreements are binding, such as France and Spain, the formulas are more innovative. On the other hand, in Hungary and Ireland, where social dialog is weaker, where there are more legal rigidities and where there is less of a bargaining tradition, initiatives tend to come from companies.

The continuing aging of the population in most European countries has brought about a change in the age profile of the workforce. Some companies are adopting different initiatives in this field, such as reducing weekly working hours, in order to encourage their older employees to stay with the company.

According to the researchers, this new context makes it necessary to rethink the organization of working time, adapting it to the needs of a diverse workforce and to the social and economic challenges of the present. In fact, InnovaWorking’s research results could have an impact on European labor policies concerning the expansion of digitization at work and also evidence the need to regulate the right to digital disconnection by workers.