A UK study shows good results with reduced working hours; in Brazil, small businesses adopt the reduction
British companies have embraced the shortened working week and are reaping good results. The NGO-led 4 Day Week Global pilot project in 70 UK companies, together with Cambridge University, Boston College and local authorities, started in 2022.
After six months, 92% of companies have decided to keep their load reduced. In Brazil, even small businesses adopt the measure, see the examples.
Small businesses adopt shorter hours
The language company Ebony English decided to shorten the working day when it realized that Fridays were no longer such a productive day, explains the managing director, Marta Celestino. Ebony therefore decided to abolish weekday work.
“We understand that Friday can be a weekday so that people can also do personal things that require them to leave the house, being Saturday and Sunday for rest instead of days to solve problems,” Celestino commented.
Created in 2016, the company has 12 employees and is still transitioning to a reduced workload, which should be completed by the end of the semester, but the change has been well received.
“The experience is positive, it lightens the week, people manage to organize themselves better in managing time and in balancing private life and work”, said Marta Celestino.
The communication and content strategy company Experta has been practicing flexible working hours with a reduced workload of 30 hours per week since its foundation in January 2020.
Founded by women and 100% home office, today the company has 20 employees in several states, of which only three are men. Unlike other companies that cut Fridays, for example, in Experta employees can choose the day off: “Each employee has his own particularity and has his own path: I, for example, don’t work on Fridays, because it’s a day where I have no one to leave my daughter with,” employee Nathani Paiva said.
The reduction makes companies more attractive, assesses the expert
The reduction in working hours comes at a time of necessary transformation of the working model, as evidenced by the spread of terms such as Great Resignation (mass resignation in the United States) and quiet quitting (silent resignation), assesses the organizational culture specialist Karen Yoshida, Professor of Business Management at Trevisan Business School.
“The proposal to reduce the working day to four days a week is based on the search for quality and balance in life. Certainly the company becomes more attractive, so there is a chance to reduce recruitment costs,” said Yoshida.
Source: Terra
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