Work models are constantly evolving. In addition to flexibility and teleworking, new challenges are arising. Provigil One of the most interesting is the possibility of work four days a weeksomething that represents a challenge for the future.
And, it is precisely in this framework where we find the new proposal of the Ministry of Industry. This body has given the green light to the implementation of the four-day working day in 150 companies throughout the national territory. The plan promoted by the portfolio led by Reyes Maroto will allocate a total of 10 million to this experience.
In this new reality, technology is going to play a fundamental role in reorganizing our work environments. Solutions like Bookker’s will allow us to revolutionize our workspaces, “With a four-day shift there is no longer a need to have fixed positions for each employee”, says Miguel Ángel Orellana, CEO and founder of the company.
Bet on the future or experiment?
The idea may seem new, but it has been raised in the past. The first to do so were the French politicians Jacques Delors and Gilles de Robien, trying to respond to a high unemployment rate.
In Spain, we had to wait until 2013 to hear former socialist minister Alfonso Guerra propose a four-day working week as a formula to combat the economic crisis that began in 2008.
However, it was not until COVID-19 that the solution took shape. “It is, therefore, a cultural change that has been possible thanks to the fact that the technology was available for it”says Miguel Ángel Orellana.
How much will I get paid if I work four days?
The big question about what could be a new reality in our workplaces is whether the purchasing power of employees will be diminished. The initiatives launched before the Ministry of Industry project have been positioned on several fronts:
- Prefer to maintain workers’ wages despite working four hours a week. In 2020, Software DelSol opted to reduce the working day and maintain the salary with notable results in terms of labor productivity.
- Make a directly proportional or similar discount, weighing in favor of the employee, to compensate for the hours that are not produced. Most of those who opted for this model have failed.
- A hybrid model of 36 hours per week in which the power to choose is left to the option of the worker. You can distribute them over five days, in an intensive day, or four, in the split-day modality.
The essential role of technology
The implementation of a four-day work week will bring with it important developments. One of the most notable will be the change in the relationship between employees and their work environments, which should be more dynamic and flexible in this new scenario.
Miguel Orellana, CEO and Founder of Bookker, points to two types of technological solutions to be implemented within the framework of the four-day working day:
- Those that allow you to work from home with the same efficacy and safety than from the office, that is, communication and security solutions. But, in addition, those that have to do with collaboration have gained strength.
- On the other hand, the fact that there is mobility of employees and that the offices must be resized (now it does not make sense to have a permanent position per employee) it is necessary to have a control of resources that an employee has.
Managing workspaces in the new paradigm will be a challenge for which companies will need external support. In order to function under this new system, augmented reality technology will allow companies to profitably organize all the physical resources available to them.
augmented reality applications
For Miguel Angel Orellana, “every digitization process happens to a greater or lesser extent in an interaction with users. If these processes do not focus on their experience, the adoption of the new digitized process will be slower or even failed”.
“Augmented reality is a technology that improves the user experience by creating interfaces that facilitate access to information visually and immediately. We must bear in mind that new employees are already digital natives and are precisely looking for that most attractive and technological interaction”keep going.
The CEO and founder of Bookker believes that “the virtualization of the workplace is a reality and the tools that allow it will be facilitators of said evolution”.
