Another Job on the Day Off and Confusing Labor Issues: What's the Downside of the 4-Day Workday?

A Portuguese lawyer critical of the measure lists flaws in the project, which is also being tested in the European country.

Portuguese companies began implementing the four-day workday this year. Over the months of preparation, enthusiasm for the project waned: of the 99 companies that expressed interest, only 39 signed up to the program, which officially began on June 1st.

David Carvalho Martins, advogado trabalhista português e sócio do escritório Chiode Minicucci/Littler, diz em entrevista ao InfoMoney que o número de empresas portuguesas participantes do projeto ficou aquém do esperado. “Fora do âmbito deste projeto, foram identificadas 8 empresas que voluntariamente adotaram o novo modelo. São [números] menores do esperado e que correspondem a menos de 2% das pequenas, médias e grandes empresas em Portugal”, conta o especialista.

The four-day week began in New Zealand in 2019 and has already spread to several countries in Europe, Africa, and the Americas under the leadership of the 4-Day Week Global movement, a non-profit community. According to the organization, nearly 500 companies worldwide are already testing the workday model, in which employees continue to receive 100% of their salary but work 80% of the time and, in return, commit to maintaining 100% productivity. The model became known as 100-80-100. In Brazil, 22 companies have already signed up to the initiative, which is supported by Reconnect Happiness at Work to carry out the experiment in the country.

Expectation vs. Reality

For Martins, the four-day week may even work in more developed countries. However, in lower-income countries, such as Brazil and even Portugal, which is among the poorest in the European Union, the measure could trigger opportunities for employees to find other jobs to supplement their income. "If the goal was to provide rest, it ends up resulting in more work. Therefore, I don't see any practical effect in this type of measure, where expectations are high, but reality is harsher," he says.

According to Reconnect founder Renata Rivetti, despite Brazil's economic situation, companies operating in the country have maintained an interest in implementing reduced working hours. Recently, two more companies joined the group, which now has 22 brands, to test the initiative.

Since September, these companies have been undergoing immersive processes on time management, productivity, communication, and technology to review their routines. "We've always made it very clear that this is a productivity project, not just a reduction in working hours," explains Rivetti.

Muitas das companhias inscritas estão criando, inclusive, uma rotina com reuniões mais curtas, com foco na objetividade das discussões. Pesquisas apontam que 73% das pessoas fazem outras coisas durante uma reunião e 71% das reuniões são consideradas improdutivas e ineficazes, cita Rivetti. “As reuniões são apontadas por 54% [dos respondentes] como o grande fator de perda de produtividade, por serem frequentes, longas e mal administradas com assuntos irrelevantes em 25% das vezes. Por isso, mostramos que uma agenda detalhada ajuda a diminuir o tempo de reunião em até 80%”.

E complementa: “A [jornada de quatro dias] é um projeto novo e não sabemos bem o quanto vai funcionar, por isso temos a parceria com grandes universidades para realizar as pesquisas e checar os resultados”.

Rivetti believes it's possible for employees to find other work during the free time created by the project. "It could be work that brings more fulfillment, which doesn't actually create overload," she says. Having more time to spend with family and having better-quality relationships is the goal, but for the expert, the ability to work with a hobby is also a component of quality of life. "Again: it's a project that focuses primarily on intellectual work that requires moments of stress recovery."

Rivetti cites the results of a recent survey by Pearson (an education company), which found that 76% of responding workers said they were rethinking their careers due to excessive work hours, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Official data also indicate that burnout (chronic stress associated with an inadequately managed workplace) is on the rise, as are its costs—estimated at approximately US$322 billion worldwide.

Labor issues

Martins considers all of the data presented above important. However, he draws attention to labor issues that are not clarified in the reduced-workday plan, such as the confidentiality of information when an employee moves to work for a competitor; or issues like workplace accidents occurring while commuting between jobs.

These new issues, according to Rivetti, are being debated and analyzed by a legal advisory team that has proposed agreements with categories and unions, "to avoid taking risks and to show that the initiative is a pilot project and that it can return to normal, if it doesn't work, without constituting a withdrawal of acquired rights."

Video originally published on October 23, 2023 on Infomoney.