Europe is undergoing a profound transformation in work rhythms. After the UK and its large-scale experiments, Spain has brought 200 companies on board, while Belgium has formalized this organization for its entire voluntary workforce. In France, ministries have been given clear incentives to explore this avenue, and start-ups are seizing on the subject with particular enthusiasm. According to a Crédoc study carried out for The Adecco Group Foundation, the 4-day week appeals to almost 50% of the French workforce. This aspiration reflects a deep-seated desire to reinvent the relationship with working time, to improve quality of life at work and to rediscover a more satisfying work-life balance. For start-ups seeking agility and differentiation in a tight recruitment market, this organization of work is becoming a major strategic lever. It also calls into question the layout of workspaces, team management and the ability of managers to rethink their managerial models. The stakes go far beyond simply reducing the number of days spent in the office.
4-day week for start-ups: understanding the two existing models
The principle seems straightforward: work four days instead of five, and keep your salary. This apparent simplicity masks two distinct realities that start-up founders need to grasp before making any decisions. The first formula, known as the 4-day week, involves a genuine reduction in working hours to 32 hours a week. The volume of working hours is reduced, while the length of the day remains the same. The second option, the 4-day week, maintains the 35-hour working week, concentrated over four longer days. An employee can then work from 8.15 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Monday to Thursday, leaving Friday free.
The French legal framework provides a framework for these practices: 10 hours maximum per day, 48 hours per week, 44 hours on average over twelve consecutive weeks. Within these limits, companies have considerable latitude to customize their organization. Some opt for fixed days off, while others prefer a floating system according to the needs of their teams. The rhythm can be weekly, monthly or annualized, with one week off for every five weeks worked. This flexibility is a considerable asset for start-ups with seasonal peaks or intense development phases.
Adapting the 4-day week to your start-up's specific needs
Start-ups benefit from a structural advantage: their small size facilitates experimentation and rapid adjustment of modalities. A fifteen-strong start-up can test different configurations in a matter of weeks, gather feedback from each member and refine its model. This organizational agility is a natural extension of the agile management culture that characterizes the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The challenge lies in ensuring consistency between the chosen pace and the expectations of customers or partners. A B2B start-up working with key accounts with traditional working hours will need to anticipate the management of emergencies arising on the fifth day.
The allocation of free days deserves particular attention. Should a common day be imposed on the whole team, or should everyone be free to choose? Both approaches have their advantages. The common day strengthens cohesion, simplifies planning and creates a collective time for recuperation. The flexible day is better suited to a variety of personal constraints, and maintains a continuous presence throughout the week. Some start-ups combine the two, with a fixed day for team meetings and a second day for individual choice.Adapting offices to this new rhythm becomes a central issue, particularly for companies housed in shared spaces.
Employee productivity and motivation: benefits measured
Feedback from experience is encouraging. Companies that have adopted the 4-day week generally find that their productivity has been maintained, or even improved. This apparent paradox can be explained by several mechanisms. Employees, knowing they have an extra day of rest, optimize their attendance time. Meetings are shortened, interruptions are reduced and concentration is intensified. The objective becomes clear: to achieve the same results in less time, which stimulates innovation in working methods.
Employee motivation is the main driver behind this improvement. According to the Crédoc study, 51% of working people interested in this formula want to free up time for personal pursuits, 43% are looking for a better life balance, and 26% are aiming to improve their physical and mental health. When these aspirations are met, they generate a stronger commitment to the employer. The stress reduction associated with this organization helps reduce absenteeism and turnover, two costly scourges for growing start-ups.
The impact on the attractiveness of start-ups in the war for talent
The technology job market remains tight. Developers, data scientists and digital marketing profiles are the subject of fierce competition between employers. In this context, offering a 4-day week for equal pay represents a powerful differentiating argument. Candidates, particularly generations Y and Z, are placing increasing importance on quality of working life. A start-up offering this flexibility positions itself favorably against more rigid competitors, including those offering higher salaries.
Talent retention also benefits from this policy. An employee who is satisfied with his or her work organization is more likely to hesitate before accepting an outside offer. The cost of recruiting and training a new team member far exceeds that of a day's work per week. Start-ups that are pioneers in this field are building a distinctive employer brand that extends beyond their own sector. This reputation spontaneously attracts quality applicants, reducing the effort and budget devoted to sourcing.
The challenges of switching to a 4-day week for a young company
The enthusiasm surrounding this organization should not overshadow its complexities. The transition to a new rhythm demands rigorous preparation and transparent communication with all stakeholders. The first challenge concerns continuity of customer service. A start-up whose business relies on daily availability must anticipate the need to cover the fifth day. Solutions exist: rotating duty shifts, staggered shifts, or the voluntary retention of certain employees on a traditional schedule.
The daily workload is a major point of vigilance, particularly for the "4-day" formula, which concentrates 35 hours over four days. Longer working hours can lead to accumulated fatigue, difficulty concentrating at the end of the day and, paradoxically, increased stress. Crédoc points out that 33% of working people surveyed cite fatigue linked to longer working hours as the main obstacle. This reality calls for in-depth reflection on the biological rhythms and sustained attention capacities of teams.
Managing special situations within the team
Not all employees benefit equally from this organization. Parents of young children may find themselves faced with childcare problems if the working day gets longer. Day-care and school schedules do not automatically adapt to new work rhythms. Single-parent families are particularly hard hit by these organizational constraints. Some will prefer to maintain a classic five-day pattern rather than juggle complex and costly childcare solutions.
People with disabilities or chronic illnesses deserve special attention. Intensified working days can affect their health and their ability to maintain performance. A responsible start-up must provide for individual adjustments and avoid imposing a single model on all its members. This flexibility within flexibility itself testifies to a managerial maturity appreciated by the teams. Workplace services can facilitate these transitions by offering practical, day-to-day solutions.
Workspace at the heart of project success
The reorganization of working hours has a direct impact on premises occupancy. A start-up switching to a 4-day week can rationalize its surface area, reduce real estate costs or improve the comfort of its spaces, all within the same budget. If Friday becomes a free day for the whole team, maintaining a traditional lease on empty offices one day in five raises questions about resource allocation. The choice between traditional leases and flexible formulas becomes strategic in this context.
The offices we operate offer an appropriate response to these new uses. The service contract, which is more flexible than a traditional lease, allows rapid adjustment to changing needs. A start-up can modulate its surface area, access complementary spaces for specific days, or benefit from shared services without complex administrative management. This real estate agility naturally extends the temporal flexibility sought by managers adopting the 4-day week.
Optimize office occupancy with a reduced work rhythm
The occupancy rate of the premises becomes a key indicator to monitor. A twenty-strong team working over four days with staggered free days maintains a constant but reduced presence. The space can be resized to comfortably accommodate fifteen simultaneous workstations rather than twenty. The savings generated finance qualitative improvements: ergonomic furniture, concentration areas, better-equipped meeting rooms. Thinking about the work environment is a natural accompaniment to any change in professional rhythms.
Occasional access to coworking spaces is a useful addition to this scheme. An employee wishing to work exceptionally on Fridays to finalize a project can join a shared space close to his or her home, rather than opening closed offices on his or her own. This flexibility enhances the attractiveness of the model, while maintaining a healthy separation between personal and professional life. Full telecommuting on a day that is normally a holiday runs the risk of slipping into disguised overwork.
| Criteria | 4-day week (32h) | 4-day week (35h) |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly hours | 32 hours | 35 hours |
| Daily amplitude | 8 hours approx. | 8.45 a.m. to 9 a.m. |
| Impact on fatigue | Moderate | Higher |
| Childcare compatibility | Good | Potential stress |
| Salary costs for the employer | Identical or slightly reduced | Identical |
| Expected productivity gains | High | Variable |
| Complexity of implementation | Average | Medium to high |
Implementing the 4-day week: methodology for start-ups
The transition to this new rhythm requires a structured approach. Rushing generates dysfunction, frustration and sometimes backtracking, all of which can damage the credibility of the project. The first step is to map the specific constraints of the business: customer commitments, seasonal peaks, dependence on partners, time zones of international contacts. This analysis reveals the real room for manoeuvre and the areas requiring attention.
Consultation with the teams is the cornerstone of a successful transition. Each employee contributes his or her own perspective on the expected benefits and anticipated difficulties. Employee representative bodies, where they exist, must be involved from the outset. This transparency encourages buy-in and defuses potential resistance. It allows creative solutions to emerge that managers would not have thought of on their own.
Test before rolling out the new organization
A pilot phase limits the risks of too rapid a transformation. Three to six months of experimentation on a restricted perimeter, a team or a department, generates concrete data for adjusting the system. Indicators to be monitored include productivity, employee satisfaction, service quality as perceived by customers, and cost trends. This progressive approach reassures stakeholders and builds a factual basis for subsequent decisions.
It must be possible to return to a traditional organization without penalizing employees who have committed themselves to the experiment. This reversibility encourages the most reluctant to participate, and avoids crystallizing head-on opposition. Agile management start-ups will recognize in this iterative approach the principles they apply to the development of their products. Work organization deserves the same methodological rigor as technological projects.
CSR dimension and environmental impact of the 4-day week
Beyond the individual and organizational benefits, this transformation has a collective dimension. Reducing the number of working days automatically reduces the number of home-office journeys. For an employee travelling fifty kilometers a day, the switch to four days represents an annual saving of over two thousand kilometers. Multiplied by a start-up's workforce, the impact on the carbon footprint becomes significant.
Energy savings in the office round off this positive picture. Lighting, air conditioning, IT equipment: closing the premises for an extra day a week reduces consumption. Start-ups housed in responsible spaces amplify this effect by pooling resources with other companies. This coherence between work organization and environmental commitment strengthens the credibility of CSR initiatives in the eyes of employees, customers and investors.
Building an attractive, responsible employer brand
Candidates are now scrutinizing employers' concrete commitments. Declarations of intent are no longer enough; actions count. Adopting a 4-day week demonstrates a real desire to place team well-being at the heart of the company's project. This visible and measurable decision strengthens the confidence of stakeholders. It signals a mature management culture, capable of questioning conventions and experimenting with bold alternatives.
Communication around this policy deserves particular attention. Avoid triumphalism or excessive promises. Present the approach as an experiment in progress, with its successes and areas for improvement. This honesty lends credibility to the discourse and attracts candidates aligned with your values. Authentic testimonials from employees are the best vehicle for this communication, more convincing than marketing slogans.
Is the 4-day week right for all start-ups?
This organization can be adapted to a wide range of activities, but certain sectors such as ongoing customer support or catering require specific arrangements. A preliminary analysis of operational constraints and a pilot phase enable us to assess the feasibility of each structure.
What impact does this have on employee remuneration?
In the "4-day" formula, the salary remains the same, since the number of hours worked per week does not change. For the '4-day' formula with a reduction to 32 hours, practices vary: some companies maintain the initial salary, others adjust it proportionally.
Are managers carrying an extra load with this model?
The Crédoc study mentions an increase in mental workload for managers, who have to arbitrate between individual and collective constraints. Appropriate training and robust planning tools alleviate this difficulty.
Does one less working day really mean less productivity?
Experiments carried out in the UK and elsewhere generally show that productivity is maintained or even improved. Employees optimize their time, reduce interruptions and arrive more focused for the day.
Should employment contracts be changed to accommodate the 4-day week?
An amendment to the contract formalizes the new rhythm and provides legal certainty for both parties. Consultation with employee representatives and support from a specialist legal advisor ensure that the approach complies with employment law.
