The four-day week desired by the Prime Minister should be implemented within one or two months.
What if the four-day week became a reality in France? Gabriel Attal mentioned the organization of a test in his general policy speech at the end of January. When he held the position of Deputy Minister of Public Accounts, he had already launched an experiment with a four-day week within his administration. The Prime Minister wishes to repeat the experience, but this time on a larger scale. Thus, according to a note from the General Directorate of Administration and Civil Service (DGAFP) dated Friday March 22, the government intends to experiment with the four-day week from April or May 2024.
As the government note specifies, this experiment “will be carried out with constant staff numbers” and without reduction in working hours. This means that ministry officials will have to work their 35 hours per week over four days. The objective of this test is “to evaluate the impact of this new method of organizing working time, with regard to the dual objective of improving the efficiency of the public service and the working conditions of public agents, in terms of work-life balance,” according to the memo. As stated Le Figaro, the experiment concerns all civil servants in French ministries and not just those working in Paris. Which represents 655,000 civil servants.
Gabriel Attal also announced that as part of this experiment, a “differentiated” week could also be tested, as indicated Capital. The idea is to allow employees to test the four-day week alternating with a five-day week. An organization that the Prime Minister deemed useful in particular for separated parents who practice joint custody. For the moment, the application of this test is on a voluntary basis and will begin “no later than September 2024 for a period of at least one year”. A first assessment should be established in the summer of 2025 to assess whether or not the experiment will continue.
Capital specifies that the list of public service services which will be affected by this experiment should be known in April or May. According to the government note, these should be “public policy design services, management services, services in contact with the public”. The government specifies that “particular attention will be paid to the impact on the opening times to the public, which must naturally not be reduced (…) and on the quality felt by users of the service provided”.
Two points raised by the government still need to be clarified. The question of RTT and teleworking could indeed be called into question. The government’s plan aims to maintain a “sufficient” level of physical presence of employees. This Friday’s note mentions the possibility of “suspending” or “reducing” the number of RTTs which remains to be defined.