One year later, how is the four-day week going?
I signed up the Social for Good team to the 4-day week trial at the University of Sussex in March 2023 (with everyone’s complete support I might add 😉). A year on, we reflect on how it’s been going and what benefits we see for our team and the business.
We used to work 37.5 hours a week with flexible hours, over 4-5 days. We'd often work 4 long days of compressed hours, but in the winter of 2022 realised that these days felt loooong, and we questioned whether we were really getting great work done consistently throughout the week.
I had the pleasure of meeting Andrew Barnes of 4-day Week Global a couple of years before and was inspired by his experience of working a 4-day week. But I wasn't quite ready to take the leap then. In 2023, with an adjusted mindset, I was.
So, first of all, let’s clarify what the 4-Day week is and why it remains such a talked-about topic.
What is the 4-day week?
It’s a 100-80-100 model.
People receive 100% of their pay - work 80% of the time - and get 100% of the work done.
At its heart, the 4-day week is about increased well-being and productivity, leading to improved business performance.
“It’s not just having a day off a week - it’s about delivering productivity, meeting customer service standards, meeting personal and team business goals and objectives.” - Andrew Barnes, 4-Day week Global
And why is everyone talking about it?
Quite simply, the data from pilot studies all over the world is very compelling.
There is a growing body of research showing that when people work 20% fewer hours they are fitter, happier, and more productive.
In case you weren't convinced already, these are the results from the UK 4-day week pilot.
Revenue +35%
Staff churn -57%
39% reduction in stress
71% reduced levels of burnout
Reduced anxiety and fatigue
Improved mental and physical health
92% of those in the 4-day week pilot chose to continue
I mean, it really does look like a ‘win-win’.
I felt the 4-day week would be fairly easy for us to trial (not the case for all businesses). So, with the promise of extensive benefits for employee wellbeing which would positively impact business performance, we took the plunge.
How did we do it?
We held an internal workshop that helped us identify what the challenges would be and what we needed to do to prepare. These were the key points.
💻 We reduced and restructured our internal meetings to balance using time well with staying connected and supporting a positive culture
🎧 We schedule daily ‘deep work’ sessions where all notifications are switched off and we focus for 90 minutes
📝 We focused on increasing efficiency in our processes, planning and project management
☎️ We communicated openly with clients to explain how we'd work, with minimum disruption to our services/availability
🗣️ We streamlined our use of Slack for internal comms to ensure relevant people could stay up to date with projects when they came back after a day off
😊 We use Loopin to monitor employee mood and engagement
We continue to review how we work and try new things.
🗓️ We created a rota to cover 5 days a week so are available to clients
🤖 We are flirting with AI and automation to leverage the benefits of streamlined processes, giving us more time for creativity and what we do best as humans
🎓 We run internal lunch and learn sessions from our digital well-being program about neuroscience, attention, focus and productivity
📧 Simple email signatures let people know if we're off and how to get in touch with the team
Our 4-day week trial
We were lucky to work with the fantastic Dr Charlotte Rae, PhD as part of her Sussex 4-Day week trial with the University of Sussex, who collected and analysed data on our sleep, stress levels, wellbeing and even scanned our brains!
Charlotte did warn us that it gets hard before it gets better. Of course, you can't instantly reap the benefits of taking an extra day off each week.
But, over the three months, we started to feel better rested, less stressed, more focused, and able to deliver the same work in less time.
What were the results?
Guess what? It is a ‘win-win’ after all. 🙌
Individual benefits
Some of the team were dealing with a massive, quite demanding project during these three months too!
Business benefits
Our business is our team so if each individual sleeps better, experiences less anxiety, less stress, is more physically active and feels happier, then it’s inevitable that the business will benefit too.
I'm proud to say that things were pretty positive before the trial which is why some of these stats might not seem significant.
And 12 months later we’re still growing strong 💪
Our revenue grew by 34% (Mar 22- Feb 23) - the UK average during the 4-Day week trial was 35%
We've had 0% staff turnover and attracted great new talent
I honestly don't mean to sound smug here, but this doesn’t surprise me. I’ve felt over the past year that we’re more engaged, more on the ball and more creative.
We’re committed to working productively and efficiently and making the 4-day week work because we all love the extra day off for ourselves!
I know this can't necessarily work across every sector but for businesses where it can, I think it's a great idea.
What’s next?
I think things are changing for the better.
Back in the 1920s, the introduction of the 5-day week was seen as a progressive and innovative step forward from the 6-day week. And yet it soon became the standard.
I hope the 4 day week will eventually become the norm. I believe it will provide some balance in our always-on world and will help us prioritise our health and wellbeing with no negative consequences for the economy.
Looking forward, I wonder if one of the many benefits of AI is that it will allow us to trial a 3-day week in the future... Increased automation and efficiency give us the gift of time. So in the short term, maybe we’ll work more with the time we gain, but in the long term, maybe we’ll realise we don’t need to.
I’m already looking forward to it.