4-day week: why companies are willing to spend more to make the system work

Businesspeople hope that investment in new hires and technology will be converted into attracting talent and more productivity. Those who participated in the test in Brazil have already seen results. Design company from Belo Horizonte (MG) adopted a 4-day week Greco/Disclosure To implement a four-day work week in a company, it is not enough to warn employees: “Hey, everyone! Starting Monday, everyone You’ll get an extra day off.” The companies that participated in an experiment on reduced working hours in Brazil had to make a series of adaptations for the new model to work. The objective was to maintain 100% productivity (and wages), even with fewer working hours. In addition to adopting rigorous planning and new productivity strategies, the participants also realized that they had to spend extra on new hires and technology. A third of the participating companies needed to reinforce their teams, according to the project’s final report. READ MORE CHECK OUT: What are the pros and cons of the 4-day week ‘Short Friday’: leaving work early on Fridays is now a reality ‘Workation’: the trend that combines leisure travel with work “It had an initial cost of 3% 4% of our company. It’s difficult to make changes without investment”, says Soraya Clementino, founding partner of the law firm Clementino e Teixeira, in São Paulo (SP). There, it was necessary to hire another employee, to make up the team of 15 people. It was also It is necessary to implement an artificial intelligence tool to optimize the performance of part of the tasks. “But I understand that it is a low value in relation to the size of the gain, because these tools and hires will allow, in the long term, to absorb more work with the same team” , ponders the partner. For Cláudia Carmello, founding partner of the advertising agency PiU Comunica, who also joined the project in São Paulo (SP), the expense on labor and technology will be worth it because of the attraction and retention of talent that the week of four days provides. She recognizes, however, that the six months of the experiment are still a “short time to do this calculation”. (see data on participants’ perceptions below) For people management professor Lina Eiko Nakata, from Insper, it is essential that companies that want to test the four-day week have extra capital to cover possible situations. In the case of the experiment in question, an initiative of “4 Day Week Brazil”, participation in the project itself is paid: it costs from R$7,000, depending on the size of the company. In this first edition in Brazil, 19 companies completed the test. The companies are from five cities in four states (SP, RJ, MG and PR) and participated in the project with a maximum of 25 employees. The majority are from the technology, communications and consultancy areas, but a hospital also participated, with employees from the administrative area. The second edition of the project is open for registration until the end of September. Short Friday: leaving work early on Fridays is already a reality in some companies Employee 🤝 company Attracting and keeping employees in the company were challenges that the participants in the experiment sought to resolve when they adhered to the four-day week. After six months of testing, some managers have already noticed changes. According to the project’s final report, 66.7% of companies reported that their ability to recruit new talent has increased. Employee turnover remained stable for 75% of companies and decreased to 25%. “It’s a huge differentiator for the company. All my friends talked about it, asked how it was going. Everyone wanted to send us their CV”, says Tadeu Carazza, an associate at the law firm. At the end of the project, almost half of the employees also stated that their relationship with their leader improved, and more than 65% noticed an increase in commitment to the company. Finally, many would not change jobs, even with a higher salary, to go back to working five days a week: 16.7% would not change jobs, regardless of the amount offered, to work five days; 40.4% would need a salary increase of more than 50% to consider returning to a “full” working day. ⬆️ Engagement = ⬆️ Productivity With one less day of work per week, 81% of employees who participated in the test in Brazil reported having more creativity and 87%, more energy to carry out tasks. Engagement increased to 60.3%, according to the final report, and all of this contributed to increasing productivity, according to 71.5%. Not surprisingly, senior leadership saw improvements in the company’s processes (83.3%) and in the functioning of the teams (75%). For Professor Nakata, from Insper, maintaining productivity with a reduced working day depends on the maturity of employees to understand priorities and deliver on time. Furthermore, it is necessary to observe the characteristics of each company’s workforce. “If we think about more operational and predictable work, like on an assembly line, one less day worked is a day of production that you lose”, he assesses. “But, when we talk about professionals who depend more on cognitive, creativity, to make deliveries, and not on the rhythm of the machine, time is very relative.” The design company Greco, from Belo Horizonte (MG), needed to make three new hires during the four-day week experiment. The number of employees increased from 19 to 22. However, the owner cannot say whether the measure was necessary due to the reduction in working hours. “We grew up, so it could be a coincidence. The volume of projects has increased”, says Gustavo Greco. Of the companies participating in the project, 72.7% saw an increase in revenue during the six months of testing, while 27.3% experienced a decrease. In terms of profits, 63.6 % reported growth, and 36.4% faced a reduction. The report highlights, however, that “improvement in revenue and profits cannot be attributed solely to the implementation of the four-day week. Service quality showed a balance.” with 50% of companies maintaining quality. A third reported an improvement, while 16.7% indicated a decline. See also ‘Workation’: discover the trend that combines leisure travel with work.



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