Is the four-day workweek about to become a reality?

Forget hybrid work or in-office perks. What employees really want is increased flexibility, particularly around when they work, which is why momentum behind a four-day week is gaining traction. 

And with good reason: Recent research shows that 43% of workers are more productive when working to their own schedule.

Plus when you take the results of the world's largest four-day working week trial to date into consideration, any argument for retaining the traditional Monday to Friday working week doesn’t stack up against the overwhelmingly positive outcomes.

Even happier Fridays?

The trial, which took place in the UK from June to December 2022 saw 61 companies and approximately 2,900 workers adopt a four-day week with no change to their pay or productivity,

At the end of the six-month trial, 39% of participants reported feeling less stressed, 43% felt their mental health had improved and 71% had reduced levels of burnout. Additionally, staff retention was boosted, and the number of employees who handed in their notice dropped by 57%.

Working parents also benefited with 60% of participants sharing that their ability to combine paid work with caring responsibilities increased.

For employers, the benefits were manifold: Over the course of the trial, company revenue stayed broadly the same, rising by 1.4% on average, and when participants compared revenue to previous years, they reported increases of 35% on average. 

Keeping these figures front and centre, it’s easy to see why 90% of those that took part in the trial want to continue working four days a week and 92% of the organisations that took part are continuing with a four-day week. 

Shifting gears

With 91 companies and approximately 3,500 workers from countries including Ireland, the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand also participating in 4 Day Week Global’s pilot programmes, it’s feasible that more freedom around when we work could become the norm. 

In fact, some companies like Airbnb are already offering employees more autonomy, allowing them to manage their own schedule so that they have the flexibility to work anywhere, anytime, as long as they hit their targets. 

In the meantime, if your current employer isn’t giving you the kind of flexibility you need in order to create a better work-life balance or spread your responsibilities out over the day, it could be time to look for a new job in a company that offers a different approach. If that is the case, the Tech EU Job Board has hundreds of roles in tech companies that are actively hiring, like the three below. 

Senior Software Engineer Rail, T-Systems International GmbH, Hamburg 

As a Senior Software Engineer Rail, you will develop digital solutions in T-Systems’ rail and public transport business unit, from technical specification to implementation. You’ll be required to develop software that translates customer requirements into technical solutions, solve complex problems via Python or Java, and create design solutions to aid the sales process. Applicants should have a degree in one of the sub-areas of computer science or a comparable course of study along with five-plus years of project experience in the field of application development, good knowledge of relational and NoSQL databases, and proficiency in container technologies like Docker and Kubernetes. You will also need a good knowledge of both German and English. See the full job description here. 

Reporting Analyst - Sustainable Finance, N26, Berlin

Neobank N26 is seeking a Reporting Analyst to report directly to the sustainable finance manager and help create the sustainability strategy for all functions. In this role you will collaborate in moderating the cross-functional ESG team and will regularly provide updates to the ESG Steering Committee, preparing presentations and other materials for periodic updates to key stakeholders. You will also assist in integrating and implementing ESG priorities by regularly monitoring and collecting the necessary data, subject to sustainability reporting. To apply you should have a university degree with a focus on finance, controlling, auditing, or a comparable field, two years of work experience in a consulting environment within financial services, and experience in designing and implementing finance operating models. View more details here. 

(Senior) DevOps Engineer, Kadmos, Berlin 

Payment platform Kadmos is hiring a (Senior) DevOps Engineer to help scale, script and maintain its developing production systems while staying up-to-date on the newest tools and cloud services to ensure its systems are safe and secure against cybersecurity threats. The ideal candidate will also be required to empower the development teams to master the configuration, deployment, autoscaling, and monitoring of their application landscape. To apply, you’ll need a Bachelor’s degree in software engineering or a Master’s degree in computer science, mathematics, or physics, five-plus years’ of experience in a similar DevOps role, two-plus years’ of GCP infrastructure experience, a solid understanding of Helm, Terraform, Ansible and configuration management and proficiency in Kubernetes, Docker, unix systems and networking. Apply here. 

For more opportunities in tech, visit the Tech EU Job Board today

Lead image: Tim Hüfner