At Elmy, Wednesday or Friday, it’s swimming pool!
Company activity
A player committed to the energy transition, Elmy offers electricity from renewable and French energies. Based in Lyon (69), this energy company has a hundred employees and has adopted a model of governance inspired by the liberated company.
The 4-day week device at Elmy
Since September 1, 2022, all of the 100 employees have only worked 4 days a week (paid 39 hours) at the rate of 32 hours per week compared to 39 hours previously.
What are the days off?
Camille Darde
Wednesday (for a third of employees) or Friday (for the remaining 2/3). “In fact, each team defines its own framework. Some have chosen the same day off for everyone. Others, bound by service imperatives, for example IT or customer follow-up, share the days off. Half are absent on Wednesdays, the other half on Fridays. A system of pairs thus makes it possible to ensure the continuity of the activity throughout the week,” explains Camille Darde, Elmy’s HRD
How to compensate?
“We are on an annualized hourly package, so we have decided to work an extra hour a day. Depending on our professional and personal organization, we can decide to work earlier in the morning, to shorten the lunch break or to stay later in the evening. There is no rule “, explains the HRD. On the pay side, no change. Despite the reduction in working time, the number of days of paid leave and additional leave (the equivalent of JRTT) is also identical. Finally, status quo on teleworking rules: everyone must be present on site at least one day a week. “But in fact, we are more like 2-3 days away”she says.
What first assessment?
This 4-day week is experimental until March 2023. “The first feedback is generally enthusiastic, even if some employees have the feeling of doing 5 days in 4. We feel that time is accelerating. To avoid this and continue to improve internal well-being, we follow the evolution of break times, in particular the meridian break before and after the implementation of the 4-day week., specifies Camille Darde. At the same time, each employee will follow 2 days of training on task prioritization management. And each month, focus groups of a dozen people will provide qualitative feedback on workload, stress, etc. In April 2023, this organization should lead to the signing of a company agreement on working time. work. To be continued !
MV Group pushes the organization of individualized working time to the limit
Company activity
The group specializing in digital marketing has no less than 320 employees spread over 11 agencies in France. In 2021, turnover reached 53 million euros, representing a growth of 30%. A company that is doing well, then.
The “4-day week” scheme at MV group
Since January 1, 2022, MV group employees who wish to do so can switch to a 4-day week. In fact, this initiative is part of a broader approach to time management and well-being at work (“Dream Denmark” program).
Olivier Méril, president of MV Group, details the different options:
Olivier Méril ©Simon Bourcier
“We offer 21 days of RTT but not all employees want or need that. So we have several options:
- either keep these 21 days by working 39 hours a week
- either do 37 hours a week and benefit from 10-11 JRTT
- or to give up these RTT days to work 35 hours a week with the possibility of concentrating them on 4 days”
What are the days off?
Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays according to the needs and desires of each.
How to compensate?
To make this work, MV Group allowed 4-day week candidates to Form pairs to ensure customer follow-up Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. “They filled in an Excel file with their wish for a pair and the days and times envisaged by each. If it stuck, the pair turned green and the 4-day week was accepted. If orange or red, so pairs not covering our opening time slots, nor the days, it was niet. For this to work, each member of the pair must be able to carry out all the missions and not just take the messages while waiting for the return of the other”, insists Olivier Méril.
What assessment?
To date, out of 280 eligible employees:
- 6 switched to a 4-day week
- 6 others had part of their RTT days bought back in return for additional income.
- All the others have chosen to be able to modulate their working time and hours.
In fact, it was the rather forty-something collaborators who went to 4 days. They prefer to work 4 days and benefit from a longer weekend. The younger generations aspire more to a work-life balance throughout the week. For example, being able to play sports in the morning or in the evening, having a social life every evening by leaving work earlier.
Olivier Méril, President of MV Group
At Systemes B, 28 hours paid 35, freely distributed over the week
Jean-Philippe Baillaud
The activity : consulting and training in business management and strategy
It was by integrating a new employee in August 2021 that Jean-Philippe Baillaud, the manager of Systems B with 3 employees, decided to switch to a 4-day week. Not at 4/5th no! At 28 hours a week paid 35. “ She has a 35-hour work contract, but in practice she only works the equivalent of 4 days a week. We have a moral contract. She knows how much she costs the company and therefore how much she must bring in to make her position profitable. Leaving her free of her schedules is a way of involving her like me in the company. It is in my DNA as a socially responsible leader to also innovate on these subjects”explains the leader, also a member of the Center for Young Leaders.
What is the “off” day?
“Initially, the day off was Friday, but this employee is still very wired in the classic organization so she continues to work every day within the limit of 28 hours per week”, he explains. While being paid 35 hours.
What assessment?
Satisfied with this tailor-made organization, the manager believes that it works because the workforce is currently small.
When the team grows, it will probably be necessary to formalize this system more with a fixed day off.
Jean-Philippe Baillaud, director of Systems B
Already dreaming of duplicating this model for his second company, an industrial SME that he co-directs with three associates. For him, this could even be a differentiating factor in attracting new recruits.
LDLC shifts its employees to 32 hours per week over 4 days
Laurent de la Clergerie
The activity : player in the IT and high tech trade. Anxious to support the fight against climate change, the group has just donated 200,000 euros to the non-profit fund Time for the Planet.
What is the day off? Since January 25, 2021, LDLC employees have only worked 4 days out of 5. An “off” day that they have determined according to their needs and service requirements.
I am convinced that over 4 days we are in better conditions than working for 5 days. This allows everyone to make appointments that we never manage to stall, to go shopping, sports or daily tasks.
Laurent de la Clergerie, founding president of the LDLC Group, at the origin of this internal paradigm shift.
How to compensate? “The 32-hour contract does not exist in France, there was a risk of reducing employees’ pensions, so I was forced to put everyone on part-time by increasing the hourly rate”, explains the president of LDLC to our colleagues from Figaro.
At IT Partner, 4 longer working days but 47 days off
The activity : ESN, a company specializing in facilities management and the provision of IT services.
Abdenour Ainseba
What is the day off? In place since January 2021, the 4-day week does not impose a fixed “off” day. Employees went from 35 hours to 32 hours per week after signing a collective agreement. Above all, they will have 47 additional days of rest per year, in return for an extension of working hours by 30 minutes per day.
This requires going to the essentials. It’s a challenge for everyone, but I think that in the end, everyone will do more and better with more well-being and enthusiasm.
Abdénour Ainséba, founder of the company, to our colleagues from Brefeco.
Read also on BrefEco >> IT Partner announces switch to four-day week
Yprema, a satisfied pioneer of the 4-day week for… 23 years
The activity : ecological industrial company specializing in the recycling of deconstruction materials.
The day off is rotating and the positions are multi-skilled
It was in 1997 that this small industrial company shifted 80% of its employees to 35 hours over 4 days. At the time, Robien’s law allowed companies to reduce the working time of employees in return for reduced contributions for 7 years. Banco, the employees of the Ile-de-France SME, a pioneer in what was not yet called the circular economy, then set about work 8h45 a day… 4 days a week.
What is the “off” day?
No question of closing the company on Monday, or any other day of the week. The company remains open all week, but the “off” day is rotating. Some are absent on Friday, others on Wednesday, etc.
Susana Mendes
How to compensate?
“To optimize absences, we have set up “multi-skilled” positions “. Employees have been trained to be able to work in 4 different positions over a week. On the support functions, we are organized in pairs with different rest days”, details Susana Mendes, general secretary of Yprema.
Sales representatives, bound by a quality commitment to respond to customers within half a day, have moved to a 4.5-day week (+10 additional days off). Same for management.
What assessment?
23 years after…
