Could a 4-day workweek be the norm in Czechia?
Research shows that a four-day workweek can significantly reduce stress, illness, and burnout in the workforce. An overwhelming percentage of companies that choose to adopt the shorter workweek stick with it due to its success. But when could Czechia see such a scheme adopted?
“Personally, I would prefer to work less per day but actually five days. Six hours a day I can be really productive. It depends on the job, of course. Some jobs are more demanding than others, but usually, I think four to six hours a day can be really exhausting if you are trying to find out new stuff.”
“I think it’s nicer to work five days but shorter hours. It would be great to have the option if you want to travel for one week to your family to change from the five days to four. A job where you could switch from five days to four would be perfect. Most of the jobs where your brain has to work it’s not really useful to work for a long time and not be productive for half of the day because you are too exhausted.”
At the moment, Czechia is lagging behind some European economies that have rolled out four-day workweek programs. For example, Germany is adopting a nationwide pilot program that encompasses dozens of companies. If the experiment is successful, experts believe Germany could accept widespread, but voluntary, adoption. In Belgium, employees can already effectively choose if they want to work on a four-day schedule. In Czechia, adoption has thus far been reserved for companies that can afford to trial a four-day workweek. Nonetheless, over a thousand firms have started adopting variations of the four-day workweek.
I spoke to Vladimír Vaňo, Chief Economist at GLOBSEC, about research on the adoption of four-day work weeks in Czechia. He argues that the empirical evidence suggests a number of benefits:
“There are a number of academic studies which have already investigated this topic and the outcome of most of these studies is that the four-day workweek not only increases the well-being of the employees but also increases productivity and that is all about how dutifully people organize their work in the shorter workweek.”
Research indicates that when workers adapt to the lifestyle, they adopt new technologies that fasten aspects of their work. They, for example, use AI tools and avoid unnecessary tasks, such as long meetings where they are unable to contribute.
Industries such as manufacturing or hospitality are unlikely to see the adoption anytime soon due to logistical and economic reasons. There is also discussion of the environmental impact of cutting the number of commuters. The flip side of that, Mr. Vaňo explains, is people would use their cars for leisure activities.
Many call this a four-day workweek, but it could look different depending on the company. Some companies choose to end the workday earlier. Some choose to have Friday off and others rotate the day off throughout the week. The overlap is that there is a clear reduction in working time, approximately 20 percent, than during a forty-hour workweek.
