Even every third respondent believes that reducing the current working week by one day could increase the number of tasks we have to perform during the day. The Polish platform for webinars, online meetings, and video conferences, ClickMeeting, conducted a study on the possibility of introducing a 4-day working week. The survey results indicate that almost one-tenth of our compatriots believe that working in a shorter time frame would decrease our level of satisfaction.
The idea of reducing the time in which we perform our duties is stirring increasing emotions in Poland. Preliminary analyses conducted by the Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Policy reveal that a 4-day work week model would be easier to implement than reducing the weekly hours from 40 to 35. The head of the ministry, Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, assures that we would maintain the current level of wages in both variants. ClickMeeting, the leader of the Polish market for webinars, online meetings, and remote and hybrid work support, decided to assess Poles’ views on potential changes.
Poles show great openness to innovations in the organization of working hours. From the latest survey conducted by ClickMeeting, 66% of Poles support the introduction of a 4-day working week, while 19% oppose such a solution. Meanwhile, 15% of respondents do not have an opinion on this matter. Respondents also expressed their views on how working 4 days a week would affect our level of satisfaction. In this case, even 65% of respondents believe it would improve, 16% believe it would remain unchanged, and 11% have no opinion on this. Only 7% of respondents believe that our job satisfaction level would be lower with such solutions.
The surveyed also expressed their opinion on how much Poles work compared to residents of other European countries. As much as 70% believes that we work more, and 18% think we work as much as other Europeans. Meanwhile, 8% are not sure about their opinion, and only 5% think that as a nation we work less than others. Would a 4-day work week affect the level of professional duties? Most (53%) believe that with such a solution, the number of tasks to be performed during the day would remain unchanged. However, 29% believe their number would increase. According to 12%, we could have fewer duties, while 6% have no opinion on this matter. Automation, which, according to 80% of respondents, helps perform tasks in companies, could be helpful in reducing their number. However, 4% believe it hampers work, and 8% think it has no impact on task performance. 8% have no opinion on this matter.
Our society is on the brink of revolutionary changes in the perception of work and life, says Paweł Łaniewski, Content Marketing Expert at ClickMeeting. Nearly 70% of Poles enthusiastically support the idea of switching to a 4-day working week. This reflects the changing culture, where work-life balance and work efficiency are acquiring new significance. It also sends a strong signal that we are ready to treat new technologies as the key to greater efficiency and better well-being at work. Reducing the number of working days in the week while maintaining or even increasing productivity may seem a challenging objective. However, with the right technological support, such as that offered by ClickMeeting, it may soon become reality.
Methodology of the study:
The survey was conducted in March 2024 on a group of 1000 people. The respondents were aged between 18 and 27 years old (18%), 28 to 44 years old (44%), 45 to 59 years old (33%), and 60 years and above (6%). 47% of all people were women, and 53% were men. Respondents were people living in localities up to 5,000 inhabitants (40%), from 5 to 20 thousand (12%), 20 to 100 thousand residents (19%), 100 to 500 thousand residents (18%), and over 500 thousand residents (12%).
