Germany’s largest-ever 4-day workweek trial has wound down and 70 percent of participating companies have said that they will continue working in the reduced-hour format. But experts are concerned that the data collected was insufficient to draw a conslusion.

Germany’s largest-ever 4-day workweek trial finishes up

In February 2024, 45 companies in Germany took part in the country’s largest-ever 4-day workweek trial thus far. In the trial organised by Intrapenör, a management consultancy agency in Berlin, and the non-profit organisation 4 Day Week Global, employees worked 4 days per week without seeing a cut in pay.

After a two-month onboarding period which guided companies on how to organise tasks and communications in the most time-effective manner, they adopted the 4-day week model. In this second phase, the results were closely monitored by a research team at the University of Münster.

This monitoring included not just surveying participating employees regarding their stress and productivity levels but also analysing hair samples and physiological data, such as heart rate patterns and sleep quality, collected with smartwatches.

The results showed significant improvements in employees' productivity and physical and mental health, according to lead researcher Julia Backmann. However, Backmann added that the study’s results did not mean a 4-day workweek model could be effectively adopted in all industries.

Experts pick holes in 4-day work week trial

Alongside Backmann’s caveat comes a concern from experts that the Münster data wasn’t collected from a diverse enough range of industries and that the limited data is not sufficiently reliable to decide whether the widespread transition to a 4-day week is viable.

Of the 45 companies that initially agreed to partake in the trial, two dropped out and two were excluded. Of the 41 remaining companies only around a third reorganised working time so that employees had three whole days off.

20 percent of participating companies reduced working hours by 11 to 19 percent per day and half reduced the working week by just four hours. This means that 85 percent of employees taking part in the trial didn’t get a whole extra day off.

Speaking to Deutsche Welle, labour expert at the University of Regensburg Enzo Weber added that participating companies were already enthusiastic about the prospect of a 4-day working week and willing to engage, meaning the results were not representative of the more than 3 million registered companies in Germany.

However, of the 41 companies that did participate, 70 percent said they would continue with the time model they adopted as part of the trial.

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