While the issue of shorter working hours in Luxembourg, some companies are ahead of the game. RH Expert in October 2021, with a working week of 32 to 36 hours. Flibco followed suit on 1 July this year with the introduction of a 32-hour week.
The concept: from 40 to 32 hours a week
Flibco’s 15 employees in Luxembourg will go from working weeks consisting of five eight-hour days to four eight-hour days. The fifth working day has simply been eliminated, with no reduction in pay.
Although the company is known for its bus service, there are no drivers here, just marketing, network planning and customer care staff. “We subcontract transport to local bus operators, so we don’t have any contract drivers,” explains CEO Tobias Stüber.
In terms of implementation rules, “employees decide for themselves which day of the week they don’t work. They can either choose a full day or two half-days, but they have to make sure that the company is running properly. That’s the only rule and it requires perfect communication and organisation between team members.”
How much does this cost the company?
Mathematically, “a reduction in working time of eight hours a week would mean 20% more staff costs,” calculates the CEO. “But from my point of view, this is a misinterpretation, because I don’t believe that an employee works at 100% efficiency throughout the week. With an extra day off a week, the company expects its employees to be “more motivated and more productive.”
What’s in it for the company?
“With this new four-day working model, we are confident that we will be able to attract the additional experts we need to achieve our ambitious targets.” One target in particular: “at least €100m in sales” over the next two or three years.
The company’s turnover in 2021 was €636,061, according to Luxembourg’s companies register (Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés).
What conclusions can we draw?
“We are convinced that this method of working will raise our efficiency to a higher level, which will translate into successful projects,” Stüber sums up. “The four-day week is the logical conclusion of a process that began five years ago.”
IT modernisation and the optimisation of team configuration and workflows enabled costs to be cut at Flibco by 70% between 2019 and 2022. Productivity increased by 80% on average over the same period. Additionally, the number of sick hours fell by 96% while the absenteeism rate dropped from 4.47% to 0.24%.
What’s next?
The four-day week will apply for a one-year trial period. If it proves to be a success, the company--which employs 44 other staff members in Belgium and Italy--may “extend the concept to other countries,” in addition, of course, to maintaining the practice in Luxembourg.
This article was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.