Would you like to have three-day weekends? They already exist in other countries!

Do you think weekends are too short? Well, several studies show that three days increase productivity.

More and more companies are realizing that productivity has nothing to do with the hours we spend in our offices. Although in Spain the so-called presenteeism still prevails, in other countries like Germany or New Zealand there are already companies that have opted to drastically reduce their working hours. Do you want to know what measures they have taken and what results they are getting?

Perpetual Guardian, four-day working week

The New Zealand company Perpetual Guardian, a specialist in various financial products, launched a pilot project last year in which it tested the possibility for its workers to enjoy three-day weekends.

Starting in March 2018, it implemented a four-day workweek for a month and a half, in which its staff only had to work a total of 28 hours. Because the results were so good, as of July 1, the company’s management officially switched to a four-day workweek followed by three days off.

The main objective of this experiment, according to Perpetual Guardian owner Andrew Barnes, was to significantly increase the company’s productivity, something they have achieved as their workers do the same work as usual, but in much less time.

In addition, with this measure they wanted to keep their company open every day of the year. With this new schedule, they have been able to organize the employees’ shifts so that they can also be open on weekends.

28-hour working week in Germany – a reality

Germany has also shown that working hours have nothing to do with productivity: it is one of the OECD countries with the best employee performance and, at the same time, the country with the fewest hours worked per year.

Last year, the country’s main metalworkers’ union won approval for a 28-hour workweek, along with a 4.3% wage increase for its workers. The aim of the agreement was to achieve a better family life for employees and has been a turning point for the country, which hopes to apply this measure in other sectors in the future.

Would you like to see similar measures applied in Spain, and do you think that fewer working hours would increase your productivity level?