What is the four-day week?

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In the wake of the Covid pandemic and the lockdowns it imposed, working arrangements have necessarily evolved towards greater flexibility. The four-day week is beginning to emerge as an opportunity to improve quality of working life — and as a means of strengthening your company's employer brand and attractiveness to candidates who prioritise work-life balance over salary alone.

Here is an overview of this arrangement and what it could mean for your start-up or young company in attracting top talent and boosting your appeal as an employer.

In practice, it involves having your employees work four days per week instead of five. In terms of working hours, this may mean either reducing total weekly hours to 32 hours across four days, or redistributing the statutory 35-hour working week across four days.

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How to implement the four-day week

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The first step is to check whether your sector is governed by a sector-specific decree or collective agreement containing provisions on the distribution of working hours across the week or on the four-day week specifically.

Your business may, for example, fall within one of the sectors covered by the implementing decrees on the 39-hour or 35-hour working week, or by a collective agreement applicable to your company.

If so, the provisions of those texts must be analysed to determine whether they set out a specific distribution of working days across the week and/or provide for the four-day week:

• If the decree or collective agreement is silent, the four-day week may be introduced unilaterally by the company following information and consultation of the Works Council (CSE, if one exists), or by a collective agreement negotiated with the representative trade unions within the company — in particular through a performance agreement.
• If the decree or collective agreement already provides for the four-day week, it must be implemented in accordance with those pre-existing provisions. Any derogation will only be possible through a company-level collective agreement negotiated with the representative trade unions.
• If the decree or collective agreement only provides for a distribution of working days across five or more days, the four-day week must then be introduced through a company-level collective agreement negotiated with the representative trade unions.
• If your company is not covered by any implementing decree and your collective agreement is silent on the distribution of working days and on the four-day week, the arrangement may be introduced unilaterally following information and consultation of the CSE (if one exists), or preferably through the negotiation of a collective agreement with the CSE involved in the discussions.

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Can the four-day week be imposed on employees?

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If your company chooses to reduce employees' working hours to implement the four-day week — for example, by moving from 35 to 32 hours per week — this change must be agreed to by each employee and formalised through an amendment to their employment contract. Employees are therefore free to refuse this new working arrangement.

Conversely, if you choose to maintain the same total working hours while simply redistributing them across the week, you may in principle impose this change on employees without their individual consent, provided that the distribution of hours had not been contractually agreed.

As a general rule, the distribution of working hours across the week falls within the employer's managerial prerogative.

However, if this new distribution of hours has a significant impact on an employee's personal and/or family life, case law holds that it may constitute a material contractual change requiring the employee's agreement — which they are free to withhold. It will therefore be necessary to assess each employee's situation on a case-by-case basis and determine whether individual consent is required.

An alternative approach would be to implement the four-day week on a voluntary basis, to ensure greater buy-in from employees. The drawback of this approach, however, is the lack of uniformity in collective working hours across the team.

In all cases, we strongly recommend anticipating all organisational aspects of this arrangement and running a pilot phase during which the necessary operational adjustments can be made to ensure a coherent and smooth working organisation.

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Anticipating the impact of the four-day week on employee health and safety

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The four-day week is widely presented as a powerful tool for improving productivity, performance and employer brand among start-ups and young companies. But what does the evidence show so far?

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In France

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In truth, there is still limited hindsight on the long-term impact of the four-day week for French employees, given how recent this arrangement is in France. Welcome to the Jungle, KPMG, Je Porte Mon Bébé (JPMBB) and LDLC are among the pioneers in this area.

To date, however, the findings are broadly positive: JPMBB reports a marked improvement in employee engagement, while Welcome to the Jungle has seen improved employee performance and a significant boost to its recruitment attractiveness. LDLC, for its part, reports a substantial reduction in absenteeism.

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Internationally

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The NGO 4 Day Week conducted a large-scale study involving 61 companies, the key findings of which are set out below.

Source: https://www.4dayweek.com/why-pilot

While the four-day week therefore appears to be a genuine lever for boosting company performance and retaining employees, it must be carefully planned to avoid its potential pitfalls.

This arrangement — whether it involves a reduction in total weekly working hours (32 hours per week) or an increase in daily working hours (35 hours across four days) — must be managed carefully from a health and safety perspective, in order to avoid work overload and increased stress linked to productivity demands.

Anticipating the health and safety impact of this arrangement will require both an upfront and ongoing assessment of the associated risks (remember to update your Occupational Risk Assessment Document — DUERP), as well as the implementation of preventive measures covering employee and manager training, effective right-to-disconnect policies, optimised working arrangements between team members and appropriate workstation adjustments.

In summary, while the four-day working week offers a genuine opportunity to combine performance, well-being and engagement, its impacts must be carefully anticipated and its implementation properly structured in order to derive the full benefits for your business and your employees.

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