A 32-hour working week at Flibco offers a practical example for Luxembourg’s debate over shorter working hours. An RTL report examining the arrangement after a year described positive company results and supportive employee experiences, while leaving open how widely the approach could work elsewhere.
The Differdange-based business, known for airport transfers, also carries out marketing, network planning, administration, customer service and development. Chief executive Tobias Stüber told RTL that the shorter week formed part of a broader change in how the company worked, with greater emphasis on achieving goals rather than recording time.
According to the report, Flibco said revenue had risen by 48% and productivity by 69% since implementation. It also reported sick-leave absenteeism of 1%. These are company-reported figures. The excerpt does not explain the productivity calculation or establish how much of the improvement resulted specifically from shorter hours rather than other changes in the business.
Organisation is central to the arrangement. Monday is the designated office day, when everyone must attend and meetings are scheduled. Employees have flexibility during the remaining working days, including the ability to choose a day off or divide the additional free time into two half-days.
Employee Jonathan Wauthier described a gradual transition involving digitalisation and greater flexibility. He told RTL that the first two months brought extra work, but that he would not return to the previous system. A midweek break left him feeling recharged. He had personally chosen to remain available for emergencies in exchange for the additional free time, although he said emergencies were rare.
Colleague Jonathan Carnevale initially questioned how collaboration would function with fewer working days. He subsequently found that planning made the arrangement workable. A national-level basketball referee in Belgium, he said the flexibility helped him combine his job with that activity and left him feeling less stressed.
The scale of the Luxembourg workplace matters: RTL reported that Flibco’s Differdange headquarters employed 16 people. Their experience provides evidence about one small workplace, rather than a test across Luxembourg’s economy. The report does not establish whether the same arrangement would preserve staffing and service levels in public services or other workplaces requiring continuous coverage.
Flibco’s experience supports a measured conclusion. A shorter week can accompany reported business improvements and greater employee satisfaction when management and working practices change with it. Whether those results can be reproduced across sectors remains a separate question.