Germany trials the four-day workweek: "Free time is invaluable"

I hope HN readers and OP realize the difference between <i>&quot;30 German companies trial 4 day week&quot;</i> and <i>&quot;Germany trials 4 day week&quot;</i>, hence my dislike for the clickbait title which I hope would be edited to make it correct.<p>Also, according to FT[1] and Bloomberg[2], it seems the German government wants to get people to work more hours, not less, to combat economic slowdown and labor shortages, basically contradicting this article.<p>So which is it? Do you fix labor shortages and &quot;the economy&quot; by getting people to work longer hours or less hours?<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.is&#x2F;WNHe5" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.is&#x2F;WNHe5</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.is&#x2F;PWQvB" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.is&#x2F;PWQvB</a>

I&#x27;ve been working 3 day work weeks, Monday to Wednesday in batches of 2 weeks, since I have so much unspent leave. I noticed productivity during my work days is absolutely insane. I definitely get more done that when I slack my way through a 5 day week...

number6 hints at it, but fyi once you’re through your probation period (standard is 6 months) in Germany you can request a reduction in hours for a pro-rata reduction in pay and it’s quite difficult for the company to turn down the request because of it being enshrined in labour laws.<p>A few in my (tech) company have done this over the last while and it’s been great for me so far. Definitely wouldn’t say no to 100% salary for 80% time as in the trial but for those with developer salaries and the cost of living (where I live at least) I think most could live and save quite comfortably with the reduction, definitely recommend it.

I&#x27;ve been working a 4 day week (Fridays off, 100% salary) for a german consultancy and there&#x27;s no way I&#x27;m going back to a 5 day week. I have never been this motivated to start work on Mondays and Sundays no longer feel dreadful as the weekend comes to a close. My sleep has improved and I have much more mental clarity because of just one additional day of rest.

Telekom in Hungary test drived with 150 then 300 employees but they ultimately failed to call it a success.<p>Takeaway message from this is to not let employees&#x2F;teams pick which day they can claim as free.<p>Also, partially moving a company to this new scheme is asking for trouble.<p>Be bold and ignore what sounds &quot;safe&quot;.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;telex.hu&#x2F;gazdasag&#x2F;2024&#x2F;02&#x2F;16&#x2F;magyar-telekom-iroda-munka-negynapos-munkahet-4-napos" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;telex.hu&#x2F;gazdasag&#x2F;2024&#x2F;02&#x2F;16&#x2F;magyar-telekom-iroda-mu...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;telex-hu.translate.goog&#x2F;gazdasag&#x2F;2024&#x2F;02&#x2F;16&#x2F;magyar-telekom-iroda-munka-negynapos-munkahet-4-napos?_x_tr_sl=en&amp;_x_tr_tl=hu&amp;_x_tr_hl=en&amp;_x_tr_pto=wapp&amp;_x_tr_hist=true" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;telex-hu.translate.goog&#x2F;gazdasag&#x2F;2024&#x2F;02&#x2F;16&#x2F;magyar-t...</a>

I hope this experiment turns out great. But honestly, I think we should win this just because we want, not because it boosts productivity. AFAIK, when the five-day workweek became the norm, it was partly because of labor shortage and powerful unions Now labor shortage seems to be a problem too but we don&#x27;t know if generative AI can solve this, and unions are declining. I wonder why unions have lost their popularity. I know some downsides of unions and companies&#x27; hard work for union busting, but I thought social media could have outweighed them.

There&#x27;s something odd about the four-day week movement; they&#x27;e always unable to be honest in their headlines. Germany is not trialing a four-day work week.

Has anyone tried 4x10s (so 4 day work week but same pay)? I floated it with my direct coworker and we came to an agreement, but my boss had some level of skepticism so I haven&#x27;t yet proceeded.<p>The last couple weeks I&#x27;ve been &quot;quiet trialing&quot; it, working Friday morning to finish things up and then keeping the afternoon light. It really helps me to come into Monday refreshed, raring to go like I am after a good vacation.

The company I work at introduced half-day Fridays. Its nice to have some time to do chores and things that are more inconvenient on a weekend, though the downside is we are more rushed to finish up our sprints.<p>I think the second half of a Friday, especially an end-of-sprint Friday, is quite lackadaisical anyway, so its probably a good bang-for-buck perk for the company.

Still WFH is better

You should try that when things are going well, not after purchasing power has collapsed 10s of percents over &lt;5 years and 80% of &lt;35yo s cannot afford to buy a flat.