Inside moinAI: We work in a 4-day week

Background to the four-day week

Hardly any other topic is currently being reported as much as about the “working time model of the future” — the so-called 4-day week. According to a conducted in February 2022 Forsa survey 71 percent of employees on the German labor market are in favour of a four-day week with a weekly working time of 40 hours, as is already being implemented in Belgium. We at moinAI have also taken the step towards a shortened working week — just slightly modified Because we don't have a 40-hour week, but a 32-hour week, meaning that every working day is still eight hours long. You can find out our previous conclusion, the reasons for the introduction and how exactly we finally designed the working model in this article.

How to get to our 4-day week

The moinAI Board (Patrick Zimmermann, Robert Weber, Florian Nommensen, Frederik Schröder (formerly)) is aware that satisfied employees play an important role in moinAI's success. For this reason, it was decided in August 2022 to introduce a four-day week for the entire team.

The goal of the four-day week is not only to satisfy employees, but also to strengthen their position as an employer.

The motto:

• attract talent,
• Strengthen the loyalty of existing employees
• Be a pioneer for a modern work culture with the unique selling point of the four-day week

This is how we automate our processes and thus save manual work

The moinAI AI chatbot solution is a so-called software-as-a-service product, or simply and abbreviated: a SaaS product. This means that moinAI customers receive an almost finished AI chatbot that they simply have to configure for their purposes. A few years ago, customizing the product required considerable manual effort for each individual company. In the meantime, the AI chatbot is also more sophisticated “behind the scenes,” so that moinAI customers can be better trained, moinAI can be used profitably quickly — and the moinAI team has significantly less manual work. For example, AI templates for industries, such as publishers, industry, ecommerce, financial industry, energy, tourism and forming worked that customers can fall back on.

However, the biggest progress has been made in the area of natural language processing (NLP) , which our AI team uses to ensure the quality of the digital assistant for every customer. This also includes the fact that artificial intelligence training has been optimized many times over, which also saves manual work.

This is how the 4-day week works at moinAI

The moinAI model differs from other “New Work” models in that the existing 40-hour working time is not simply spread over four days, but the total working time is reduced by eight hours. Friday is set as a day off for the entire team. According to this, our employees work eight hours, four days a week — and with the same salary! It is important to emphasize this point: A reduction in working hours with less pay could be described as a part-time model rather than a 4-day week.

How the idea was received by employees

The announcement of the introduction of the four-day week was received with thunderous applause as part of the seven-year anniversary. In individual discussions with employees, a consistently positive mood was identified. Initial fears about a possible increase in workload and stress due to the reduction of working hours from five to four days were not confirmed. If the working week is reduced from 40 to 32 hours, the salary remains unchanged. Employees therefore benefit from more free time without financial losses.

First steps before the introduction of the four-day week

One advantage of introducing the 4-day week was that two employees were already working in this model. In these cases, it was already apparent that work was being done productively and effectively within four days a week. In addition, the board members listened to other companies and individuals who had already introduced or worked a four-day week. The aim was to explore the reasons that had prompted other companies to introduce a four-day week. These reasons were finally reviewed while making sure they were in line with one's own values and goals — which is the case.

Is there a trial period for the model?

A one-year trial period was set, during which the team and board jointly assessed the working model honestly and transparently. For this purpose, there was and is a monthly retrospective with the entire team. During this appointment, anyone can provide feedback — both negative and positive. Everyone then tries to work out a solution to any problems together.
The trial period has now been successfully completed and the 4-day week is an integral part of moinAI.

The 4-day week in the media

As already mentioned, the 4-day week is a hotly debated topic. So it's no wonder that many media companies have now come forward to report on this. Here is a small excerpt of the articles and reports:

• NDR THAT! : Work 32 hours, earn fully: With this company, it works
• NDR Kulturjournal: How do we want to work? The four-day week model
• MOPO: Less work, same salary: Hamburg-based company introduces four-day week
  
• ‍Startupcity Hamburg: AI startup moinAI introduces 4-day week
• Impulse magazine: With this trick, the team gets the job done in four days
• Hamburg News: Is the four-day week the working model of the future?‍
  

The conclusion so far

We are convinced that the introduction of the four-day week — albeit a bold one — is above all a pioneering step. As a company that specializes in AI-based automation solutions, we are sending a clear signal for a modern working world in which digitization and automation provide more freedom and focus on the work-life balance of employees. Or as Patrick Zimmermann (CEO & Co-Founder) said:

“Overall, the four-day week with full pay represents a modern alternative. It is important that we adapt to changing conditions and try out innovative working models to improve the well-being and performance of our team. Productivity and performance ultimately depend not only on the time available, but are also significantly influenced by motivation and enjoyment of work. So yes, I think a four-day week with full pay makes sense.”