The most important information (click to go)
According to the provisions of the Labour Code currently applicable in Poland, a person employed on a full-time basis under an employment contract works eight hours a day and 40 hours on the average in an average five-day workweek, with a settlement period not longer than four months.
Differences in this respect occur if the employer applies other working time systems and schedules being variations of the primary system.
Although the four-day workweek is not treated as a standard system, the Wroclaw marketing agency LTB decided to implement it:
Bartosz Jaworski, President of LTB: ‘In our industry, it is creativity and efficiency that counts, so we want to ensure optimum working conditions to our team.’
Fewer sick leaves, greater productivity
The implementation of the four-day workweek in LTB occurs in stages.
Bartosz Jaworski: ‘When deciding to make such a step, we did not want to do this suddenly. Also, this could not involve any restrictions that would contradict the provisions of the Labour Code or those that might have a demotivating effect on the team.’
For almost a year, the company worked 35 hours a week. It turned out that the experiment did not have a negative impact on work – just the opposite. The number of sick leaves dropped by 23% compared to the same period. Meanwhile, the number of performed tasks increased by 11%.
Four-day workweek for good
It also turned out that the shorter workweek is very interesting for candidates applying for jobs in LTB.
Bartosz Jaworski: ‘We recognise the impact of the introduction of this system not only on operations, but also HR aspects, team building and the perception of LTB as a modern company, which makes it easier for us to run a business.’
Internal tests have shown that the company can go a step further. Therefore, a four-day workweek will be introduced from the middle of the year. Until that time, some organisational and structural changes are still needed. Nevertheless, the company’s employees will have around 80 days off within one year, including the holiday period they are entitled to.
Shorter workweek for seven years
The PR POiNTB agency reduced the working time to six hours a day already seven years ago. According to Karolina Krasuska, Account Director of PR POiNTB, this model not only continues to work perfectly but also it has been fully introduced for the remote working mode. She says that this connection is a response to the growing needs of the team and to the dynamically changing world of work.
Karolina Krasuska: ‘Optimisation is needed to make it work, so we constantly improve the specifics of our work and use innovative apps, software and AI tools that largely streamline the conduct of projects. They enable smooth communication and co-operation between teams, irrespective of their physical location.’
Lower procrastination, higher productivity
According to the Account Director of PR POiNTB, AI chatbots and AI-powered tools help in the automation of routine tasks, thereby allowing the agency's employees to focus on more strategic and creative aspects of their work.
Karolina Krasuska: ‘Our experience during these years has shown significant advantages for employees and an increase in effectiveness that have surpassed our expectations.’
According to Karolina Krasuska, employees feel better and less burdened, are more satisfied with work and cope better with stress, and the shorter working day resulted in the more concentrated and effective implementation of projects by the whole team.
Karolina Krasuska: ‘The limitation of the working time motivates people to manage their tasks more effectively and minimises procrastination, which results in higher productivity within a shorter time.’
(Procrastination means a tendency to postpone doing various activities).
Will there be changes in the labour law?
Results of pilot programs and the experiences of countries that have changed their legal provisions show that the introduction of the four-day workweek in Poland is only a question of time. In fact, the labour code already allows for such a solution, and when the announced amendment to the act is introduced, the things currently available to the chosen few may soon become a standard for everyone.
Changes in the law towards the reduction of the workweek to four days have also been approved by the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk. According to her, it would organisationally be easier to reduce the workweek by one day than to reduce the working day to seven hours, which is also taken into account.
