SA far from 4-day work week, say experts

While some parts of the world are moving towards a four-day working week and even a few local companies have instituted this radical idea, it’s still a long way before it will be accepted here, say experts.

And that might well be because we don’t work hard enough and already waste time in the office. The global trend towards squeezing 100% productivity into fewer days continues to gain momentum in a post-Covid workplace environment. The UK has announced a pilot project with 160 companies signed up to test a potential model in June this year.

Large brands in several markets, including Microsoft and Panasonic in Japan and Unilever New Zealand, have already switched to fewer days at the office. Spain launched a similar pilot in March last year. In the UK, the Four Day Week Campaign has a website that lists employers who have already adopted a shortened week.

On its website it claims a host of benefits to employers including growth in productivity, fewer sick days, staff retention and better innovation. The five-day work week originated in 1908 in the US at a cotton mill so Jewish workers didn’t have to work on the Sabbath. Henry Ford also began shutting down his factories on Saturdays and
Sundays in 1926.

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In SA, Dion Chang’s Flux Trends company led the charge when it moved to a three-day weekend late last year, citing the fifth workday as a personal development day for staff. Chang called it the “next frontier” after the work-from home and hybrid office-home model.

But he noted the migration to a shorter work week was taking “baby steps” as local companies are still taking positions on these models. “As with all new business trends, some companies will adopt a new approach when they see other companies doing it.”

Chief executive of Medicare24 Mike van Wyk said a shortened work week in South Africa was impractical.

“Absenteeism, low productivity with too many breaks in a day such as socialising at offices, smoke breaks, already infringe on productive time.

“If many companies are not getting full productivity from staff right now, how can it be expected to play out in even fewer days?”

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Department of labour deputy director-general Thembinkosi Mkalipi said it was up to companies to establish their own rules. Yet the outcome of Spain’s experiment saw participating companies Software Delsol and German software developer CIB report no loss of productivity and a decrease in absenteeism.

Software Delsol said sales grew by 20%. A study in Iceland where workers were also on 36-hour work weeks showed similar results.

In Dubai, a four and a half day work week was recently implemented, too. Human capital firm EO Executives director Johann Strydom said: “Organisations should feel comfortable they can achieve the same or better results after a four-day work week has been introduced. It is a transformation project.”

– news@citizen.co.za