A pilot program for a 4-day working week in South Africa started on March 1 with 28 local companies and one from Botswana, the first participants from elsewhere on the continent, with 500 business owners and employees testing reduced working hours to increase workplaces. employee productivity and well-being, as well as talent attraction and retention.
Participating companies will follow the 100-80-100™ model that stipulates 100% of pay, 80% of time in exchange for a commitment to deliver 100% of output. They are now doing four weeks of intensive onboarding to get ready.
The pilot program will run for six months, guided by experts at 4 Day Week Global, the entity that conducts the trials around the world.
It will be supported by pre-, mid-term and end-point research conducted by Boston College and Stellenbosch Business School.
“To have 29 companies join the first pilot in South Africa in a four-day week is proof of the business that is thriving in this country. Participants accepted the idea that it is time to change the convention that is almost 100 years old in a 5-day week.
“Reduced working hours is central to the future of work and companies are willing to experiment. There is a lot of potential to be gained and nothing to lose from the experiment,” said Karen Lowe, director of 4-Day Week SA.
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Findings from a trial of the 4-day workweek in another country
He says research findings from trials around the world make a clear case for the 4-day week.
“Results from trials in Ireland, the US and Australia released in November 2022 show improved company performance, productivity and outcomes.”
He said it is also important to note that employees place a high value on the four-day week, with 70% of participants saying they would need between 10 and 50% of their salary to return to a 5-day schedule and 13% saying they would need more than 50%. Additionally, 13% said that no amount of money would convince them to give up the four-day week.
The findings of the British trial, the largest in the world to date, will be released at the end of February 2023.
Lowe said recruitment is already underway for the country’s second 4-day week pilot, due to start in May.
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Here’s what participating SA companies say
From the comments, it’s clear that employees are eager to try this new way of working:
“We joined the pilot because we strongly believe in giving employees the opportunity to be more productive, as well as take care of their mental health.” – Kealeboga Kaelo, CEO of Precision Vehicle and Asset Tracking.
“As a team, we decided to start launching Freedom Fridays (Fridays) to spend more time with family and work on mental and emotional well-being.” – Jeanine Topping, director at Jt&a.
“We are always interested in productivity and efficiency and have become masters of doing more with less in an increasingly crowded place, but we know that we are burning the candle at both ends and need to focus more on well-being and bringing balance back to life. of assets we are the most valuable: our people.- Gerry Skerritt, marketing director at Dream Team Catalyst.
“We are mothers who work from home and take care of our family while earning a living. We choose to put our family first and set our work hours. The 4-day week approach allows us to have mornings and evenings for our family and fit in with the school day. We don’t live to work days complete; we work to live fully.” – Jennifer Lopes, master tax practitioner at Tax Ladies.
“You don’t build a great company by accident. Having a 4-day week is an innovative step to build and maintain a good work culture. – André Bothma, founder and CEO at Tax Maverick.
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Give your staff tools and time to focus
“We strive to give our staff the tools and time to focus on their emotional and physical health at work and at home, to ensure life balance and operational productivity. The final implementation will provide a more positive experience for our customers. – Makhosi Kubheka, COO at Communicate.
“We are excited to be part of a new way of thinking about better work/life balance for employees and at the same time increase productivity in the workplace.” – Annerike Meiring, human resources officer in Elnatan.
“Programming companies tend to have long hours and have very long hours for their staff. We participate in a 4-day week to ensure that we keep our promise to create well-being for our team. We believe that employees who rest can be more productive. – Llewellyn Marais, managing director at Marais Software Solutions.
“2023 is the year of the people for us and we are making the well-being of the team the center of everything we do. The best way to do that is to give them valuable time. Everyone will win because a team that likes to do good work and good work leads to clients who – Anelde Greeff, head of content at 2Stories.