A new campaign could see employees have a reduced working week with no loss of income.
The programme, started by Four Day Week Ireland, aims to help organisations explore flexible working smoothly and successfully, while transitioning to a shorter working week, over a century since the standard five-day working week was first introduced.
Speaking to the Irish Daily Mirror, Chairperson of the Four Day Week Ireland campaign Joe O’Connor said: " Effectively the whole model around the four day week that we are advocating for through this programme is best described as the 100/80/100 model.
"It's around 100% of the pay, 80% percent of the time but in return for 100% of the productivity."
The pilot is part of an international collaboration with 4 Day Week Global, and will run on a coordinated, parallel basis in a number of countries including Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, with programmes already being developed in Spain and Scotland.
"Those companies have been able to maintain their productivity, but actually in the majority of cases, they've experienced an increase in productivity as a result of their employees being more motivated, more focused, happier and therefore able to deliver better results," added Mr O'Connor.
Addressing the issues of businesses in certain sectors being disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting public health protocols, Mr O'Connor stated: "We're not promoting this on the basis that we believe that it will lead to businesses suffering a drop off in productivity or in profitability.
"Actually, we believe through working smarter rather than longer...which is not focused on the time you spend on the clock, but on linking your pay and linking your work to results, that this can actually deliver better outcomes for businesses."
The pilot programme, however, is not a one size fits all and attempts to introduce a flexible model that will benefit employees who work on commission, for example, or are part of a smaller, start-up company with limited resources.
"[The five day working week] is of course not the only work arrangement that's in existence and there are different forms of flexibility to suit different employers, sectors and employees, and they're absolutely essential," said Mr O'Connor.
"Really this is about the four-day working week becoming the new default, across the economy, but we do believe some version of a shorter working week is achievable for all workers."
As part of the pilot programme, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications have announced they will fund a call for research to assess the economic, social, and environmental impacts of a four-day working week in a specifically Irish context.
He added: "In a general sense, the idea of the campaign can obviously be delivered on a pro rata basis for part time as well as full time workers.
"In terms of the government involvement, we engaged with them on the plans in place for this programme, we think it's very positive that they've acknowledged that the four day working week is an idea that warrants great investigation, and as a result have set up this €150,000 research fund to look at the economic, social and environmental implications of a shorter working week."
However, the impact of the pilot scheme to people working part-time while in receipt of social welfare payments, such as Job Seeker's Benefit, has not been discussed by the group and the department.
Employers that are interested in joining the pilot scheme can contact the Four Day Week Ireland campaign if they would like to learn more at www.fourdayweek.ie or at contact@fourdayweek.ie.
