With the possibility of a four-day workweek model that might be implemented across South Africa, employees may now look forward to working fewer hours with the same pay and added rest.

Earlier this year, a nonprofit company found in New Zealand - 4 Day Week Global - officially launched their pilot project in South Africa where they will be researching how this work model can be best implemented in South Africa. According to Karen Lowe, the director of the 4 Day Week South Africa coalition, the project was officially launched on 23 September 23, 2022.

“We are currently onboarding pilot participants for one of two pilot [projects]. There is a pioneer pilot [project] that is going to start at the end of January 2023 and a second pilot [project] which is going to start in May 2023,” Lowe says.

The four-day workweek is based on the 80-100-80 model, which was developed by the co-founder of 4 Day Week Global, Andrew Barnes and Charlotte Lockhart. “The 100-80-100 principle essentially is a 100% of the pay for 80% of the time, in exchange for 100% of the output,” says Lowe.

The project was first trialled in one of the co-founder's organisation, Perpetual Guardian, and the success of the trial is what spurred this initiative in a global environment. Currently, the project is running in 180 companies across 6 countries around the world, with the most significant developments being in the United Kingdom which has just past its midway mark.

“The pilot [project] is essentially an experiment to see whether your organisation can maintain or improve their productivity, improve staff wellbeing and at the end of the six months hopefully take those learnings and all of the research finding results, and use that to create a better and healthier work environment,” adds Lowe.

Lowe tells OFM News that there are various benefits that come with implementing this work model for both employer and employee. From an employer’s perspective, the organisation or company switches from being obsessed with time to being more focused on output. As result, this may lead to an increase in productivity, which inadvertently has a positive effect on the company’s growth, which creates the opportunity to hire more people to accelerate that growth.

“For the employee, it’s wellbeing, it’s a reduction in burnout, it’s an improvement in life satisfaction,” Lowe adds.

Companies that wish to take part in the pilot project have until the end of October to sign up, with the official deadline being the 15th of November 2022. Companies sign a collaboration agreement and thereafter start the readiness programme, which touches on the productivity metrics and establish baseline metrics.

The 4 Day Week Global organisation even goes so far as to help employees convince their employers to take part in the pilot project by posting the "persuade your boss manual" on their website.

More information can be found on 4 Day Week Global's website, as well as their social media pages on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, as well as TikTok.  

OFM News/Bambatha Giko