People have been hearing about it for several years - the four-day working week is being imitated all over the world. Its success is so great that there are more and more books on the subject. And that's exactly what today's article is about: BFT Verpackungen offers this type of contract and our CEO Marcel Heinrichs had the opportunity to give his perspective when author Martin Gaedt contacted him to write his book The 4-Day Workweek. The book is in German, but we're going to transcribe the most important points for you in English, as well as some extracts from our participation.
Synopsis of the book
The author examines a trend that can be observed in Germany, Austria and Switzerland: the four-day week. To this end, he contacted over 100 SMEs in these three countries that use this method to find out about their experiences with this concept.
The book is divided into 14 chapters covering all the important topics and questions on the subject: Do employees want this change? How do they use the extra time off? What about salary and work organization? Does this have a positive impact on the recruitment of new talent? In short, everything that employees and entrepreneurs should ask themselves about this topic.
Here is what the author says about his book:
"In March 2023, my book "4 Tage Woche" will be published with practical examples from 151 companies - 75x craft, 13x production, 17x hotel & catering, 23x digital, advertising agency and tax consultancy as well as 2 town halls in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Everywhere the focus is on people. The result: more free time, turnover, applications, productivity and quality of life! The 3-day leisure time also brings a wealth of skilled workers!" Martin Gaedt.
Special feature of the book
What distinguishes Martin Gaedt from previously published articles or books on this topic is that he only gives SMEs a voice. Almost everyone knows the example of Microsoft in Japan, which was one of the first companies to introduce the four-day week after a successful experiment in 2019. Microsoft is such a large company that it probably has its own HR department to deal with this issue.
As the author explains in his book, very large companies have not only the human, but also the financial and logistical resources to make such a change. But what about small companies?
The media usually give the floor to these industrial and commercial giants, forgetting the small structures, of which there are more than 3 million in Germany, accounting for 97% of all companies. Only 2.7% of companies have more than 50 employees. Their feedback is therefore an important point of reference for all SMEs looking for opinions from colleagues.
Another aspect that is also addressed in the book is the attractiveness of the four-day week in terms of recruitment. The younger generations are indeed more receptive to this working format. Far from the stereotypes that portray young people as slackers, they are more willing to express their wishes and, above all, to have a better work/life balance than their older colleagues.
And that can go hand in hand with top productivity and better employee health. But we don't want to spoil the whole book for you 
BFT Packaging and the 4-day week
As you can imagine, we are not just telling you about this book today because we have read it. As participants in this project, we would also like to share our views on the subject with you. It was important to us that our customers could reach us every day of the week from Monday to Friday. To make this possible, we rotated our team. Having more applications and filling more positions is inevitably another very important aspect, especially on the management side.
Are you curious to test the four-day week in your professional life or as an entrepreneur in your company? Then don't hesitate to read this book or tell others about it. It is quite possible that you know someone in your environment who has already made the switch. And if you ever apply for a job in our company, you can tell us that you would like to work four days a week if that suits you.
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