Introducing a '4-Day Workweek' Yields Surprising Results... Intense Debate Over Its Effectiveness

Experiments Show Reduced Stress and Increased Productivity
Concerns Remain Over Applicability to All Industries

There is intense debate in Europe about the effects and practical benefits of the four-day workweek. While some countries have shown positive responses, there are also criticisms that its implementation is realistically difficult.

On the 16th (local time), foreign media including Spain's Euro Weekly News reported that the four-day workweek is receiving positive evaluations.

The four-day workweek received positive reactions during pilot implementations in countries such as Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal. Supporters cite the '100-80-100' effect, meaning employees receive 100% of their usual pay while working 80% of the hours, yet maintaining 100% of their performance.

In Germany, a research team from M?nster University conducted an experiment on the four-day workweek with about 40 German companies and organizations. The results showed improvements not only in workers' mental and physical health but also in work productivity. More than 70% of the participating companies expressed their intention to continue the four-day workweek.

In particular, workers who took a three-day break from Friday to Sunday experienced about a 30-minute reduction in Sunday stress, and physical activity increased on both weekdays and weekends. Most notably, stress levels and burnout symptoms (psychological and physiological exhaustion after work or activities) significantly decreased.

Philipp Frey, a labor issues researcher at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, said, “The four-day workweek increases employees' work motivation, improves work-life balance, and contributes to achieving gender equality.”

However, there were also opinions that the four-day workweek is not suitable for all industries. It is realistically difficult to implement in sectors such as caregiving, distribution, and logistics.

In fact, a travel agency in M?nster tried the four-day workweek but withdrew it. The agency's representative stated, “Due to the nature of the travel industry with many weekend bookings, employees coming to work on Monday faced excessive workloads.”

Additionally, during the six months of the experiment, four companies voluntarily returned to the five-day workweek or withdrew from the experiment. Among the remaining 41 participating companies, only about one-third fully implemented a four-day workweek with a complete day off.

A local labor market expert said, “Because the number of participating companies is limited, it is difficult to apply these experimental results to the more than 3 million companies in Germany,” adding, “Even though two years have passed since the four-day workweek was first proposed, it has not been adopted because it is hard to find interested employers and companies.”

He continued, “Moreover, the companies participating in this experiment generally already had a positive attitude toward the four-day workweek,” and pointed out, “It is necessary to verify the reliability of whether the positive results are truly due to the four-day workweek or due to measures to improve work efficiency and organizational structure changes.”