<aside> 🌿 At Carbo, we are convinced that the 4-day working week is an excellent way to reclaim time for better connection with oneself, others, and the living world. The 4-day week is therefore a tool that serves a more ecological society.
We are also a member of the 4jours.work coalition 🧡
</aside>
The ecological crisis we are experiencing is the result of continuous acceleration in our world to extract ever more natural resources for productivist ends.
Time in our society is considered a commodity - we constantly try to optimize it to achieve "time savings," at the expense of living things: exploitation of people and natural resources.
The 4-day week therefore raises the question of how much time we dedicate to work in our lives. As an ecological company, Carbo wants to give Carbonauts (Carbo employees) the advantage and freedom of time. We believe that (joyful) ecology comes through reclaiming time which allows us to reconnect with ourselves, others, and the living world.
Regarding the carbon footprint, a Swedish study shows that we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 16% when a company reduces its working time by 20%.
Implementing this 4-day week allows us to propose an ecological counter-model and inspire other companies to take the step, in line with our mission: accelerating ecological awareness to reduce our carbon footprint right now.
This breathing space in the week also has a healthy and 'ecological' effect for everyone, making them less prone to stress, fatigue, and burnout. Companies that implement it show decreased absenteeism and workplace accidents.
We've seen it at Carbo, our eNPS (employee Net Promoter Score) has shown great progress (it doubled) over 2023.
Women are more likely to work 4/5 time in companies. If we implement the 4-day week at a societal level, with reduced working hours while maintaining salary, this would also have the positive ripple effect of limiting average salary inequalities within companies.
The transition to the 4-day week has led to a reduction in working time: Carbo employees work 32 effective hours, paid for 35 hours.
The reduction in hours requires better organization and greater prioritization, making time spent at work more precious: working less but working better ;)
Each carbonaut (employee or intern) can choose between Wednesday off or Friday off. Carbo continues to operate five working days. Teams are given the responsibility to find the right distribution of off days among their members so the team can function continuously over the 5 working days of the week.