Among the countries that have recently implemented the four-day working model; Iceland, Belgium, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Ireland and India. Let’s look at working four days a week together!
The digital transformation resulting from the impact of technological developments on socioeconomic life and the COVID-19 pandemic, which unexpectedly accelerated this transformation and brought it to the fore; companies update their performance management models, adopt new working models, and encourage both companies and employees to priority, expectation, target and work necessitated some changes in its methods.
Traditional performance management and evaluation models, especially for white-collar workers, were based on hourly measurements, and in a way still do. Employers and managers measure the productivity of employees by how many hours and to what extent they successfully complete certain tasks. over this hour is evaluating.
“The amount of productive hours a white-collar worker works 5 days a week is not equal to the number of hours he/she is in the office”
For example, if it is considered that the lunch breaks of professionals working from 8.30 to 18.30 last approximately 90 minutes, at least 2-3 tea and coffee breaks are taken in between, and social interactions in the office take them away from their working time, it is approximately It works 6-6.5 hours productively. conclusion can be reached.
What is the motivation of working 4 days a week, where and why was it applied for the first time?
Models such as remote work and hybrid work brought about by the pandemic have created certain changes in terms of employees’ work and life balance, as well as the methods of evaluating productivity. Like remote working models, which arise from the reluctance of the professional who is used to working remotely to return to the office, a better work and life balance The concept of the 4-day working week, which is believed to provide
The 4-day work week, which was put into practice in Belgium at the beginning of 2022 and is subject to the choice of companies and employees for now, is the time spent by employees both in the office and in the virtual work environment. to reduce dead time, symbolizes an effort to achieve a better work-life balance.
Naturally, it brings with it serious discussions and uncertainties: What are the alternatives?
- 100-80-100 model: Working 8 hours a day, 4 days a week, i.e. 32 hours a week,
- 4-10 model: Working 10 hours a day, 4 days a week, i.e. 40 hours a week,
Such a change in order brings with it all sorts of debates and uncertainties, as would be expected. Many envision working eight hours a day as in the traditional model, but leaving the total weekly working hours at 32. this much “100-80-100 model” There are those who call it.
The prediction of this model is that employees work at 80% of the traditional model and receive 100% of the salary, but without sacrificing 100% productivity in return. Opposite this model is the 4/10 model, that is, the model that claims to reduce the working day to 4, but not to reduce the working hours and to increase the daily working hours to 10. This, compressed business model it is also called.
While some employers believe the 4-day work week is worth a try, they feel that in such a case, employees’ wages should at least be reduced to some extent:
If you’re adopting a 4-day schedule instead of a 5-day schedule, it doesn’t sound very fair to increase the working hours from 8 to 10, ie to avoid actually increasing the employee’s time for himself. A similar logic can be applied to the compensation approach: if the 4-day work week is geared towards increasing employee productivity wage reduction it may not make sense.
The main issue here is what exactly the employer and employee understand from the 4-day work week:
While applying an innovative working model, it is necessary to meet the demands of both the institution and the employee. mutual expectations It is vital to be as clear as possible.
If the number of working days will be reduced to 4 but the hours will not be increased, employers’ processes of familiarizing employees with the job and the business model, training and setting goals will also change. Adapting to this change, crossing reciprocal boundaries to draw clearly connected.
While some employers welcome the 4-day workweek, they want to trust that they can reach the employee on day 5, at least in case of an emergency:
In other words, the employee, whom he trusts with his commitment and sense of responsibility to the institution, is more willing to take the 4-day order. Therefore, to be able to adopt this innovation the soundness of the institution-employee relationship connected.
One of the most important problems is that it is not suitable for every sector. For example, can we encounter tables where the management staff of the banks work for 4 days and the branches for 5 days?
One of the major problems with the 4-day workweek is that it is not adaptable to all industries, at least for the time being. For example, it is more difficult to argue that professionals working in the service sector, industry and logistics will get increased productivity with a reduced workday compared to white-collar workers. The fact that this model is more suitable for managers and white-collar workers, another question to be answered and it can cause problems.
On the other hand, we also see that the hybrid working model is more suitable for a 4-day working week:
While there is no decrease in efficiency in companies that work two days in the office and two days remotely, satisfaction can be increased. Correct management, correct tracking and efficient use of online systems are essential for achieving this balance.
Employees “sitting at the computer” does not mean efficiency and productivity:
It should not be overlooked that the main thing is not to work 4 or 5 days, that keeping the employees in the office or at the computer for a certain period of time does not mean efficiency and productivity, and it would not make sense to decrease from 5 days to 4 days without adapting both the working model, the corporate structure and the managerial approach. For this reason, we can argue that the essential thing is to communicate with the employees of the institutions and to express their mutual expectations clearly and clearly.
Some employees may want to work 4 days without sacrificing productivity, and some employees may want to work for 5 days in a slightly more comfortable manner. Key; setting the expectations and targets with the right approach and reconciliation, preparing and signing the contracts in accordance with this and correctly.