Work less, earn the same amount. Sounds like a dream! For the ten employees of the Solothurn IT company Seerow, this dream will soon become a reality. The web agency introduces the four-day week in autumn. For now only for six months. A pilot project.
Nevertheless, there is great excitement among the employees. “Personally, I am very curious to see how the new work model will affect my motivation, morale, productivity and, above all, creativity,” says Özge Altin, project manager and UX designer.20 minutes».
35 instead of 42 hours
Employees can choose whether they want to take Monday or Friday off in addition to the weekend. Working hours will be reduced from 42 to 35 hours per week. The wages stay the same. That also means: Anyone who was previously employed at 80 percent will now suddenly receive a 100 percent wage.
Seerow managing director Fabian Schneider (33) justifies the step with the corona pandemic and the home office: “The crisis has shown that performance does not necessarily depend on the place of work and results do not necessarily depend on the hours worked.”
Schneider hopes that the four-day week will give him more relaxed – and therefore more productive – employees. “Especially when it comes to creative and top-heavy work, it is important that our employees have more balance to their job,” said Schneider about “20 Minuten”.
Trial in Iceland with great success
However, communication within the team becomes a challenge with the new model, Schneider admits. That is why the four-day week is only being introduced for the time being as a test. After six months, the experiment should then be evaluated in the team.
In addition, the four-day week should not simply lead to people working overtime on the remaining working days.
Findings from Iceland about the four-day week are in any case optimistic: There, the model has been tested for years with thousands of public administration employees. The bottom line: the four-day week was an overwhelming success. The Icelandic employees suffered less stress and burnout. This led to fewer sick days.
Is the flood of applicants coming now?
Fabian Schneider is not only concerned with the health of his employees: his company is struggling with the shortage of skilled workers because of its location in Solothurn. The shortened working week should also make the company more attractive as an employer.
In order to be able to cope with the workload despite the shortened week, Seerow recruits staff. Three positions are currently advertised on the website. The four-day week is prominently advertised in the advertisements. It remains to be seen whether this will actually result in more applications.
And even if the four-day week currently sets his company apart from other employers, Fabian Schneider hopes that he won’t be alone for long. “It would be great if other Swiss companies would also try this working model so that experiences can be exchanged.”