4-Day Work Week is Here: Which Companies Shifted to a 4-Day Work Week in India?

Did you know that the 4-day workweek concept was implemented in the UK, and the researchers estimate that it saves around £ 104 billion for UK businesses in a year? A survey conducted by Henley Business School regarding the four-day week found that 62% of staff reduced their sick leaves, and 78% of them were less stressed than usual. Also, 64% of them admit that they are going to spend one extra day learning and upskilling themselves.

This clearly shows the effectiveness of this new concept. At the same time, some employees find this work culture inappropriate as they have to work extra hours in a single day which kills productivity.

In this write-up, we will observe whether the 4-day workweek culture is working for India or not. We will also introduce some top Indian companies that have already adopted this work culture. Let's dive in to learn more about it.

The Concept of a 4-Day Work Week
Pros and Cons of 4-Day Work Week
4-Day Work Week Companies in India

The Concept of a 4-Day Work Week

The 4-day workweek idea allows employees to work for only four days a week without any reduction in their salaries. It signifies that employees have to work 80% of the time while maintaining 100% of productivity in their work. Fridays will be off and the employees will enjoy 3 days as holidays.

The world's largest four-day workweek trial is underway in the UK. Over 3,300 employees from more than 70 companies are participating in this trial. It compares typical employees with 4-day-a-week-working employees to calculate the amount of work done at the same time.

According to a survey in which 41 of the 70 companies trying out the shorter workweek participated, around 86% of the companies said that they were "extremely likely" or "likely" to consider keeping the four-day workweek policy after the trial period.

Companies and employees from the United States, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand have signed up to take part in the six-month coordinated trials of the four-day working week as part of the 2022 programme.

Pros and Cons of 4-Day Work Week

Every theory arrives with pros and cons. The pros and cons of 4 day work week are:

Pros

• Enthusiasm: The employees feel more motivated or enthusiastic by having only 4 days of work in their minds and spending extra time on other desired things.
• Reduced sick leaves: A poll reported that there were 62% fewer sick leaves after the 4 days workweek culture implemented in the company. The appointment of doctors can be shifted on holidays.
• Less expenditure: There is less use of office amenities such as electricity, toilets, printers, or canteens which ultimately reduces the expenditure of the firm. Microsoft Japan reported 60% fewer printings and 23% lower electricity bills when it tried a 4-day workweek.
• Increased efficiency: It increases efficiency or productivity in completing tasks. Microsoft Japan also reported a 40% increase in productivity among employees when it trialled a four-day week in 2019. Many of them admit that they are expanding their holidays in upskilling, which ultimately benefits the company.
• Environment conservation: Conservation of paper and electricity, and less use of toilets impact the environment by fewer carbon emissions, resulting in expanding greenery.
• Employee Retention: The concept retains employees in a particular company for a longer time due to less stress of work and burnout. Moreover, top talents tend to find companies where they can showcase their abilities without workload. 4-day work week culture attracts top faculties of the industry.

Cons

• Pre-planning: The clients don't pay attention to the work culture a company is following. They just need to get their work done. In the case of a 4-day work week, internal scheduling issues may arise in addition to managing client needs. The planned meetings can be scheduled before, but emergency meetings can suffer in this case. The quality of work also endures because every employee cannot be present at the time of urgent meetings and discussions.
• Task coverage: The 4-day workweek can make tasks suffer. This is because many employees take off on Mondays or Fridays to get a continuous break. If they follow this behaviour in a 4-day work week culture, the missions of the company have to withstand, resulting in decreasing efficiency.
• Costly in some spaces: A four-day workweek signifies that the employees have to work 10-12 hours per day instead of the traditional 8 hours. If the employees can complete their 5 days of work in 4 days, you are paying adequately. But if it is not happening, then you are paying the extra cost to the employees.
• Overwork in some positions: The managers and other people in controlling positions will get overworked since they have to schedule every meeting and task in only 4 days.
• Additional anxiety about completing missions: The employees will keep stressing about completing their work so that they can successfully take their extra day off. This makes them complete the task in hurry and may not be providing the same quality work according to their ability.
• Contraction of work goals because of varying employees' behaviour: Every worker may not feel enthusiastic to work at the same frequency on all four days. Human behaviour varies, resulting in a contraction in achieving work goals.

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4-Day Work Week Companies in India

Here are a few hefty companies that have successfully enforced the concept of a 4-day workweek in India:

TAC Security

TAC Security, a global leader in Vulnerability Management has shifted to a 4-day work week concept. It manages more than 5 million vulnerabilities via its Artificial Intelligence (AI) based Vulnerability Management Platform ESOF (Enterprise Security in One Framework).

The CEO and founder of TAC Security, Trishneet Arora said in a recent interview that their company consists of young generation employees which allows him to experiment with this brand new concept.

“It’s all about keeping standards of execution high, while still putting the team’s health and well-being first, we are team of young people and young company we can experiment anything possible to ease the team members work life balance. We recognize that it’s important for our leaders to set an example for the rest of their teams by walking the talk,” says Trishneet.

Employees' work and life balance is the chief aim of TAC Security introducing this theory. The HR manager of TAC Security highlighted that directing this 4-day workweek concept will take some time because 5 days of working has been a habit since we started working. But he is pretty confident that this concept will be a huge success.

Beroe Inc

Beroe is a global SaaS-based procurement intelligence and analytics provider. Beroe Inc. introduced the concept of a 4-day workweek on June 1, 2017. Since then, it has become successful in achieving its work goals by consuming fewer days.

The company launched the Beroe Performance Index in order to measure its productivity when it implemented the 4-day work week. This index measures the company's performance on the basis of client deliverables and feedback on a month-on-month basis. The report for the first month of the 4-day work week showed outstanding results for Beroe both in terms of client deliverables and feedback.

"The success of this initiative is purely dependent on how well employees are able to shift from 5 to 4-day work week without compromising on client deliverables and productivity. So far, the results have been fantastic and if we continue with the same rhythm we will make this initiative a success. But, if there is a dip on client deliverables we will have to dial the work week back to 5 days." says Vel Dhinagaravel, CEO, Beroe.

Apart from this, during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, many Indian companies and startups implemented a 4-day work week for their employees and reported good results. Swiggy, OYO, MullenLowe Lintas Group, and ad agencies like DDB Mudra were among them.

Conclusion

Hence, this was all about the 4-day workweek companies in India. This modern concept tends to work effectively in areas where employees are more dedicated to adding value to their company instead of just spending their precious time. Since top companies have started introducing this concept, it will soon expand its legs to other corporations as well.

FAQs

Which company offers a 4-day workweek in India?

TAC Security and Beroe Inc. offer a 4-day workweek in India.

Which country has implemented the largest four-day workweek trial?

The world's largest four-day workweek trial is underway in the UK. Over 3,300 employees from more than 70 companies are participating in this trial.

What are the benefits of a 4-day workweek?

The benefits of a 4-day workweek include:

• Reduced sick leaves
• Less expenditure
• Increased efficiency
• Environment conservation
• Employee Retention

What are the cons of a 4-day workweek?

The following are the cons of a 4-day workweek in companies:

• Costly in some spaces
• Overwork in some positions
• Trouble in task coverage
• Additional anxiety about completing missions
• Contraction of work goals because of varying employees' behaviour