German firms tested 4-day workweek — here's the outcome

Earlier this year, some 45 German firms launched a 4-day workweek project to find out if such a fundamental change to how we work can achieve positive results for employers and employees.

For six months, and closely watched by researchers from Münster University in Germany, the volunteer companies allowed their employees to work fewer hours without reducing their salaries. The pilot run was initiated by Berlin-based management consultancy, Intraprenör, in collaboration with the nonprofit organization 4 Day Week Global (4DWG).

Achieving the same output with fewer hours and the same pay requires greater productivity. Initially, this might imply more stress and a heavier workload — but does it have to be that way?

Key metric is productivity

To objectively assess the effects of reduced working hours, researchers did more than just conduct surveys and interviews. They also analyzed hair samples to gauge stress levels and used fitness trackers to collect physiological data like heart rate, activity level, and sleep quality.

Julia Backmann, the scientific lead of the pilot study, says employees generally felt better with fewer hours and remained just as productive as they were with a five-day week, and, in some cases, were even more productive.

Participants reported significant improvements in mental and physical health, she told DW, and showed less stress and burnout symptoms, as confirmed by data from smartwatches tracking daily stress minutes.

According to Backmann's findings, two out of three employees reported fewer distractions because processes were optimized. Over half of the companies redesigned their meetings to make them less frequent and shorter, while one in four companies adopted new digital tools to boost efficiency.

"The potential of shorter working hours seems to be stifled by complex processes, too many meetings, and low digitalization," said Carsten Meier from Intraprenör.

Surprises regarding health and environmental impact

The study has also shown that participants were more physically active during the 4-day workweek, and they slept an average of 38 minutes more per week than those in the five-day control group. However, monthly sick days only dropped slightly, a statistically insignificant difference compared to the same period a year ago.

Marika Platz from Münster University, who analyzed the data, said she was surprised at the number of sick days because similar studies in other countries showed a significant reduction.

Another surprise, she told DW, was the lack of environmental benefits from reduced working hours during the German test as other countries reported a positive impact from offices that could be shut down completely for one day, and fewer commutes to work that resulted in higher energy savings. The reason for this was probably that some German employees took advantage of the long weekends to travel, she said, which reduced any potential energy savings.

Flawed data from a skewed test?

A closer look at the design of the study, however, might raise some doubt about how useful the findings are.

Two companies voluntarily dropped out in the course of the six months, and two others had to be excluded from the evaluation. Of the remaining 41 participating companies, only about a third reduced weekly working hours by an entire day.

Around 20% reduced hours by between 11% and 19% per day, while about half cut work time by less than 10%, or roughly four hours per week. So, in total only in 85% of the cases did employees get a full day off.

The limited number of participating companies also makes the study hardly representative of Germany and its more than 3 million registered firms. This has been because the project struggled to find enough interested employers since it was first mooted two years ago, said Marika Platz, because part-time work is already relatively common in Germany.

Labor market expert Enzo Weber is skeptical about the pilot project, saying that companies participating in such trials are generally already positive toward the 4-day workweek, making them an unrepresentative sample of the economy.

In addition, the researcher at the University of Regensburg and the Institute for Employment Research in Germany, told DW the project's productivity gains may not be due to shorter hours alone, as processes and organizational structures were also modified.

Weber also believes the positive results might not be sustainable due to the increased work compression that will likely come at the expense of employees' social, communicative, and creative aspects. "The effects often don't manifest immediately but rather in the medium term," Weber said, noting that those studies generally cover only a relatively short period of six months.

According to Steffen Kampeter, CEO of Germany's Employers Association BDA, companies that operate in international markets consciously chose not to participate in the trial. He also questions the productivity gains, arguing that "a four-day week with full pay is just a significant wage increase, which most companies cannot afford."

4-day workweek bottom line

Of those 41 companies that have participated in the trial, more than 70% said they were planning to continue with the project. Some said they would extend the trial phase, while others are considering implementing reduced hours directly.

Study director Backmann stressed, however, that the study was not about advocating for a blanket rollout of the 4-day workweek across all sectors, but rather exploring "an innovative work-time model and its effects."

And Carsten Meier from the Intraprenör consultancy added that the positive results of the trial cannot be "automatically translated" into similar gains for every company in Germany.

This article was originally written in German.