“Focus on the work to be done, not the hours.” This is the moto of RH Expert, a human resources consultant that employs about 60 people in Luxembourg. In October, the company introduced the four-day week. “Everyone can choose their third day off as they wish, per quarter. Except for Tuesday and Thursday,” said CEO Laurent Chapelle. Because these two days are the least popular when it comes to scheduling off days, they are used for meetings and training.

The four days worked are inevitably a little busier, but not by much. “The employees work between 32 and 36 hours a week,” said Chapelle, while their salary will not be reduced. This raises the question of whether the previous system resulted in employees being present at the work place for the sake of it to which Chappele said: “I wouldn't say that. We have worked on productivity”. Every week, the manager gives objectives to his employees. And if they need to work an extra day to achieve them they can't do that. “We have forbidden an employee to work more than nine hours a day or to plan more than four days.”

Flexible working hours

The only exception is for people on probation, for integration reasons. If an employee has not met his or her target in four days and has worked 36 hours, the four hours not worked will be carried over to the next quarter. So there will be a week where they will work four and a half days. “This has happened three times. We don't set unattainable targets.”

When the announcement was made in January 2021, “some people said it wasn't possible to do their work in four days,” the CEO said. “Then, in practice, you see that it is possible.” Employees have flexible working hours, allowing them to start between 6.30am and 10am and finish between 5pm and 8.30pm.

The measure has a double objective: more room for private life, but also “to put the manager back at the heart of things”, since every week “they are obliged to ask themselves about the employees’ objectives.”

The latter are also entitled to 10% telework, 18 days per year, as provided for by the Luxembourg telework agreement. They can put them in their quarterly planning, providing a solution “under all quotas for cross-border workers, authorised by law and made simple, an agreement by SMS being sufficient.”

Taking the law into account

RH Expert is turning out to be a pioneer, while the labour ministry has said that it is in favour of a reduction in working time after Belgium voted for the possibility of introducing a four-day week.

“The law does not oblige you to work five days a week,” said Chapelle, who sought legal advice before its introduction. This concluded that employment contracts did not need to be revised. The labour code states that “when the weekly working hours are spread over five days or less, the normal working hours may be increased automatically to nine hours per day, without the total working hours exceeding the normal weekly working hours in force in the establishment or company concerned.”

In the opinion of labour law lawyer Guy Castegnaro, “the labour code allows it, but a work organisation plan must be put in place.” This is what Laurent Chapelle did. The extra hour worked each day does not need to be counted as overtime.

The company manager believes that the four-day week has won over his employees. And it is helping to attract new talent. “We put a job advertisement up last week and we noticed more applications. Some even mentioned it at the interview,” said Chapelle.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.