Will the 4-day work week improve your wellness? We may soon find out

If you have been wondering if four workdays a week will improve your wellness at work and make you more productive, you will find the answer when the pilot programme is conducted all over the world, including South Africa, next year.

Companies all over the world are reportedly adopting the four-day week in a bid to improve productivity and wellness in the workplace. Now South African companies can also try thanks to a joint initiative between 4 Day Week Global and the 4 Day Week SA Coalition. Planning will start in November this year.

Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report shows that only 24% of South African workers are engaged at work and only 29% are thriving in their overall wellbeing, which makes it look like it is time to relook not just where we work, but how, when and for how long. Maybe something to discuss with your boss?

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4-day week model

The four-day week is based on the 100-80-100™ model that co-founders of 4 Day Week Global, Andrew Barnes and Charlotte Lockhart, developed for the Perpetual Guardian trial in New Zealand in 2018. The model prescribes 100% of the pay for 80% of the time, in exchange for a commitment to deliver 100% of the output.

The model is recognised as a way to support and empower workers, enhance organisational productivity and make a positive impact on societies and the environment. The world’s biggest four-day week trial is happening in the UK where over 70 companies are currently experimenting with this new way of working.

However, this new way of working raises some questions, such as whether South Africa is ready for it, which challenges it can help solve and the best way to do it. “Businesses that are early adopters and market leaders in reduced-hour, productivity-focused working establishes them as innovative, progressive and forward-thinking. The greatest risk is that your competitors try this before you do,” says Barnes.

The National Business Initiative (NBI) joined Stellenbosch Business School and a growing base of partners in the 4 Day Week SA Coalition that was officially launched in South Africa recently.

Since the Perpetual Guardian trial 4 Day Week Global supported hundreds of companies from a variety of industries all over the world to run four-day week trials or make the permanent transition to reduced-hour, productivity-focused working. 

ALSO READ: SA far from 4-day work week, say experts

Benefits of the four-day week so far

So far the model has delivered improved company productivity, efficiency and performance, alongside greater employee wellbeing, engagement and work-life balance. Research from leading international academics suggest the four-day working week can be a truly triple-dividend policy because it is better for the economy, society and the environment. 

4 Day Week Global was initially established as a networking community for like-minded people and organisations interested in exploring the shorter working week and as a vehicle for global advocacy. Now it has grown to become the global market leader in supporting businesses and governments who wish to experiment with or implement work-time reduction. 

The development of the new pilot programme last year enabled the organisation to respond to the exponential growth in demand for and interest in the four-day working week and move to a model which can uniquely support employers and employees to run trials at scale. 

Its ambition is to make a four-day working week the new default and reduced working time the new standard all over the world.

At the South African launch, 84% of the people there acknowledged its potential to improve work life balance, while 65% hope it can increase productivity, while 47% are excited to try it in their organisations and 32% wanting to find out more.

“A fundamental shift is needed to deliver higher levels of productivity and it is not something that can be done from the C-suite. It is rather about empowering people to rethink how they work to work more productively. It is a very personal deal between individuals and their employers and between individuals and their work colleagues,” Barnes says.

ALSO READ: War cry for a 4-day work week

Pilot programme in South Africa

The pilot will involve a six-month trial and participating organisations will benefit from workshop training and mentoring, delivered by 4 Day Week Global and organisations that have already successfully implemented a four-day week, while networking opportunities with other pilot participants will provide the chance to share learnings and experiences.

The progress of the pilot programme will be monitored by a rigorous academic framework of research, developed out of Boston College in collaboration, locally, with Stellenbosch Business School.

Researchers will work with participants to establish relevant productivity and worker well-being metrics and to define what individual success looks like. These metrics will be monitored throughout the trial.  Like-minded organisations that join the 4 Day Week SA Coalition can also represent various industry sectors on an advisory panel. 

“Let us create solutions at a higher level than the challenges we face. Let us collectively focus on the attainable solutions to a more positive and profitable workplace and societal future in South Africa,” Mqondisi Gumede, co-chairperson of the 4 Day Week SA Coalition, says.

Karen Lowe, director of 4 Day Week SA, says there is an unrealised potential value yet to be claimed from the new era of how we communicate and collaborate in the future of work. “South African businesses have an opportunity to prove that we can be more productive, while enjoying greater personal wellness.”

Companies can sign up by visiting www.4dayweek.co.za