Africa’s first 4 day week trial a remarkable success

Reduced-hour work week deemed a “universally beneficial policy”

South Africa has marked a significant milestone in the realm of work-life balance with the successful completion of its first ever 4 day week pilot program. The six-month trial is the first of its kind on the African continent and was run by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with 4 Day Week South Africa NPC, with researchers in Boston College and Stellenbosch Business School.

The groundbreaking initiative, which commenced in March of this year, aimed to explore the benefits of reducing the traditional 40-hour work week and compare the outcomes to other countries’ experiences.

Key findings indicate a resounding success in terms of employer and employee satisfaction, workplace productivity and overall well-being, with 92% of participating companies planning to retain the new schedule.

Organizations rated the overall trial a 7.7/10, reporting great satisfaction with business productivity, performance, and ability to attract employees. They also observed an 11% average reduction in resignations and a 9% reduction in absenteeism over the course of the pilot, with revenue increasing by a weighted average of 10.5%.

Employee outcomes were similarly positive, with 90% wanting to continue their 4 day week post-trial. When asked how much additional pay they’d require in their next job to go back to five days, over half (51%) said between 21-50% more, with over one in ten (13%) stating no amount of money would induce them to go back.

Lead quantitative researcher, Professor Juliet Schor of Boston College said: “The results have been impressive. While hours didn't fall by the full eight per week, employees did see improvements in virtually all our measures of well-being, stress, burnout, fatigue, anxiety, mental health, work-family balance, sleep problems and exercise frequency. One of the strongest results is a large improvement in self-reported productivity, without much increase in work intensity.”

4 Day Week Global CEO, Dr Dale Whelehan said: “This research represents a pivotal moment not just for South Africa, but for the entire continent and global community. While there were some deviations from trends observed in other regions, the vast majority of findings were consistent with prior research, demonstrating this is a universally beneficial policy.”

Annerike Meiring, Human Resource Officer at participating IT company, Elnatan said: "Elnatan has overall achieved success with the 4 day week and will continue. Our employees are more rested, productivity has increased, and our customers have not experienced any difference in our quality of service. The pilot taught us how to be more agile and efficient, and we are using those learnings to rethink and optimise for the future."

ENDS

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Full report available for download here.

Find a list of participating companies here.

For more information on 4 Day Week Global’s pilot program, see here.

For more information on 4 Day Week South Africa NPC, see here.

28 companies (27 from South Africa and one from Botswana) signed up for the pilot. Findings are based on the 22 companies who returned all surveys.

470 employees participated in the trial, with 61% of those responding to both baseline and endpoint surveys.

The largest group of companies is from the professional services sector (11). The second largest subset is IT (5), with marketing (3) being the third largest group.

While the size distribution is wide, with one company employing 100+ people, 57% have ten or fewer employees.