Germany begins a pilot study with a four-day work week: Can this work in India’s context - ETHRWorld (2024)

Germany’s four-day work week trial has finished its first week. About 45 companies have participated in the trial, hoping the reduced working days will lead to happier employees and increased productivity. The trial will run for six months and, if successful, might just bring closer those days of German glory that gave way to an unequal and stagnant economy today.

However, Germany will not be the first nation to try working four days for better work-life balance. Countries like the UK, the US, Canada, and Portugal have all dabbled with the experiment in the past and reported improvements in both physical and mental health along with dropped burnout levels.

In a study conducted by 4 Day Week Global (4DWG) involving 41 companies in the US and Canada, it was found that after twelve months of the four-day work regime, none of the companies wanted to go back to the earlier five-day week. In other countries, the results were not much different. More than 90% of the UK respondents opted to continue with the working model. 4DWG is also leading the present trial in Germany. For most companies involved in these studies, employee retention and productivity had improved, warranting a question: why isn't India following suit?

Can India Afford a Four-Day Week Working Model?

Central to all the challenges prompting Germany to take the risk of running the precarious trial was a shortage of skilled labor. India is no exception to this malaise. According to TeamLease Services, India might be suffering from a shortage of about 150 million skilled workers.

To combat the ongoing talent scarcity, Indian companies increasingly prioritize employee well-being as a key part of their value proposition. Various organizations are devising distinctive wellness programs not just to attract top talent but to foster long-term loyalty. As such, a working model that enhances the golden trio of employee well-being, productivity, and retention rates could be the magic solution India needs to champion talent management.

To gain deeper insights into the matter, ETHRWorld reached out to HR leaders. Sanjay Kumar, SVP & Group CHRO, Apar Industries, shares, “Entire Europe, including Germany, is undergoing a recession or a slow rate of growth whereas, in India, the rate of growth is spectacular. India has already become the 5th largest economy in the World, and it is going to become the 3rd largest economy by 2030. The vision of the government is to become a developed country with $30 Trillion GDP by 2047. To face the workforce challenges that will arise as a result of this steep growth curve, the requirement of reskilling, upskilling and structural changes in processes, methods, and technology will be enormous and far more complex compared to Germany. Therefore, it may be tougher for India to do this with a four-day work week.”

Madhav Das, Senior Director-People, Zeta Global, holds a similar view. He says, “With the current growth spurts in different sectors and a booming economy, every company operating in India has tremendous pressure to deliver and would prefer to be very customer-centric in their approach. A four-day work week is less likely to be accepted across the economy due to these factors even though it has too many positives such as better work-life balance, talent attraction and retention, environmental benefits like reduced emissions, and other benefits related to sleep, stress levels and mental health.”

At present, the economic climate in India has been favorable. To fully capitalize on this opportunity, it is imperative that businesses persistently cater to the evolving needs of consumers uninterrupted. A drastic change in a company’s internal operations could easily cause an experience disconnect, jeopardizing its established relationship with its consumer base.

Back in Germany, too, the trial sparked some apprehension. According to a Bloomberg report, the nation's own Finance Minister believes the move could endanger their economy.

Work Hours, Not the Precursor to Productivity

At one point in history, Germany was one of the strongest economies in Europe. Known for its industriousness and engineering prowess, it failed to keep pace with the rapid digital revolution that breached the global market. Other economies meanwhile embraced the digital age, leapfrogging ahead.

Germany’s digital lag has played a significant role in its decline.

Hari Hara Rao Didugu, Head HR, MedPlus Health Services, points out, “Not all work environments can ensure maximum productive employee engagement throughout the entire 8-hour work day currently. However, reducing work hours will not help India at this juncture. If we can improve productivity through digitalization first, creating a benchmark of enhanced productivity, then we can plan to reduce work hours.”

A report by Qualtrics found that only 34% of respondents felt their company’s technology exceeded their expectations.

As digitalization overtakes the business landscape, it is only prudent to make the initial investment in technological capabilities. If employees spend a good chunk of their time finishing a task that could be streamlined through automation, productivity remains constrained regardless of the working hours. In the same vein, when employees face stress and frustration while dealing with workspace apps and software, both engagement and productivity are likely to fall, more so under the added pressure of having fewer working hours to get the job done.

Kumar brought up a new dimension to this point. He shares, “The 8 Hour Work Day is good. All the 8 Hours do not get utilized in Work only. These 8 Hours include lunch Break, water cooler discussions, employee engagement activities, fun-at-work activities, training, townhalls and other employee communication forums, etc. Factoring all of these, the 8 Hours actually turn out to be 5 to 6 Hours work in a day. These many hours at work are good for an employee’s productivity and essential for a wholesome feeling of contribution, creativity, and well-being.”

Effective communication is the lifeline of hybrid work. Shortening work hours would hinder communication, making scheduling meetings, coordinating across teams, and taking out time for casual interactions difficult. Beyond work-related interactions, informal conversations contribute greatly to team building, promoting collaboration and camaraderie.

Designing an experience, whether in-office or remote, that enables employees to spend their work hours meaningfully and efficiently, no matter how many, should be paramount. For, positive work experiences ultimately lead to employee satisfaction and commitment to their companies.

‘Holistic Flexibility’ is the Way Forward

With the job market turning talent-centric, most corporate initiatives are centered around flexibility to win over the best candidates. Flexibility allows greater autonomy to employees and even attracts untapped workers such as part-timers. However, flexibility becomes counterintuitive when it is reduced to a particular metric.

Das shares, “While some organizations have seen an increase in productivity due to initiatives focused on flexibility, the actual results might vary. It really depends on the commitment level of your team. Front liners may not be able to shift to a four-day work week and this might lead to resentment and several ripple effects. It might hinder the growth as well at some point. It is important to gauge how much flexibility can be offered as there may not be a one-size-fits-all solution.”

The concept of a four-day work week only works for those industries where round-the-clock operations are not required. Sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, and customer-centric industries may struggle to accommodate the compressed schedule. Further, a uniform applicability of the concept across all levels of an organization is also not practical. Teams handling time-sensitive tasks or manual workers getting paid by the hours would rather find it challenging, impacting team dynamics and morale.

More importantly, the success of the concept singularly hinges on the simultaneous reduction in working hours every day. If work days are reduced but daily hours are extended, Kumar cautioned, it may not bode well for employee health. He shares, “India’s new labor code also plays with this concept. However, it is a 12-hour and four-day work week which will not be good for physical and mental health.”

While intently seeking to prioritize flexibility, the concept fails to take into account the diversity of work and workforce. A four-day work week could be a solution only for a select few companies; it cannot be a universal idea all industries can adopt to foster well-being and efficiency.

Flexibility may sound antonymous with the “one-size-fits-all” approach. However, true personalization happens when flexibility is envisioned in its comprehensive scope.

Holistic flexibility delivers to the individual needs of the employees. That could be digital tools, remote work, social activities, wellness schemes, and so on. India Inc. should, therefore embrace holistic flexibility on its march to attaining a resilient workforce and $30 trillion GDP growth.

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