Human capital management
The fantastic four I
n 1930, renowned economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that a 15-hour working week would be the norm by 2030. In many countries,
however, the working week has become longer and longer, as the ‘work more’ concept so ingrained in the US and Japan has prevailed the world over. Though Keynes may have been extreme in his prediction, however, there are signs that the tide has turned. Forced by the pandemic to rethink working arrangements, companies large and small have reinvented how employees collaborate, communicate and contribute to strategic goals. Yet moving to a world of Zoom meetings and remote working has had a huge impact on how employees view their work/life balance. Many now feel that time at home is more valuable than they previously thought. That experience has accelerated a trend that was already gathering pace: the implementation of the four-day working week. Initially the preserve of smaller businesses, big corporations are now considering the concept. Some, in fact, are putting it into practice. In June 2020, Japan’s Toshiba began trialing a four-day week, and the following month UK supermarket Morrisons sought to implement a working week of four nine-hour days instead of five eight-hour days for head office staff. Unilever New Zealand also trialed a shorter week, as did UK research organisation
Autonomy. Many more have made similar moves – but beyond these individual examples, there is a growing number of broader initiatives. In June last year, a number of British companies teamed up to examine the impact of reduced working hours on productivity, employee wellbeing, the environment and gender equality. The programme was run by Oxford and Cambridge universities, Boston College, as well as a number of advocacy groups. Overall the project saw 70 companies – with a total workforce of around 3,300 people – sign up to implement shorter working hours. That’s shadowed by even more ambitious, nationwide schemes. In February 2022, Belgian employees secured the right to decide whether to work four or five days a week, albeit while delivering the same output. In a country known for its rigid labour market, this is a huge step towards a more flexible approach to how employees balance their personal and working lives. “We act as a vehicle for social proof of concept and positive outcomes from individual companies,” says Joe O’Connor, chief executive at 4 Day Week Global, a non-profit. “We have now worked with hundreds of different companies around the world to focus on productivity using the model of 100% pay, 80% time for commitment to produce 100% of output.”
From remote work to Zoom meetings, the old ways of doing business are being swept aside. This has opened the door to the most ambitious shift yet in working habits: the four-day week. Jim Banks asks Laurent de la Clergerie, CEO at Groupe LDLC, and Joe O’Connor, CEO at 4 Day Week Global, why giving employees more time to recharge their batteries can boost productivity, staff retention and revenues.
Laurent de la Clergerie, CEO, Groupe LDLC
Joe O’Connor, CEO at 4 Day Week Global
Finance Director Europe /
www.fi nancedirectoreurope.com
19
ELUTAS/
Shutterstock.com
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