COMP NEWS – A Dutch software company is moving to the four-day work week without any reductions in compensation for its staff.

Dutch software firm AFAS announced plans to move all of its employees to a four-day work week starting next year. The roughly 700 employees will continue to receive the same wages, bonuses, benefits, and vacation time, and their workday will remain at eight hours, the company in Leusden, Utrecht announced on Wednesday.

“From January 1, 2025, the office will close on Fridays and everyone who works for AFAS will have a ‘development day,'” the company said. This development day is not meant for improving skills at the workplace, but rather for employees to relax, spend time with their families, provide care for relatives, volunteer, or take part in any activity as they see fit.

“Employees who already work four days will be compensated. The software company does not plan to recruit more people as a result of this introduction,” the company said.

AFAS claims to be the first large employer in the Netherlands to implement a four-day work week, and hopes to inspire other businesses to do the same. The company stressed that they will still have customer service teams available for their clients on Fridays. The company generates annual revenue of nearly 290 million euros from just over 13,000 clients. Their software generates payslips for millions of people in the Netherlands.

The software company joins a long list of companies offering reduced work weeks, a popular trend particularly in European countries.

The software firm brags that sick leave levels were below 2.5 percent last year, with employees at an average age of 35. The firm’s workforce is currently made up primarily of men, with women accounting for a third of the workforce. The company said it is working towards a goal of even gender representation.

To read more about AFS’s four-day work week, click here.

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