The pilot schemes being studied by researchers at Boston College, University College Dublin, Oxford University and Cambridge University saw more than 100 companies across the US, Ireland, Australia and the UK adopting a four-day working week with no loss of pay. The aim was to understand the benefits for both employee and company, while identifying the limitations.
With studies in the US and Ireland now ending, and the UK scheme reporting its mid-term results, there’s some clear and interesting data to interrogate.
- Boosted sales
- 8% increase in revenue
- Lower burnout scores in 66% of employees
- Improved absenteeism and reduced sick leave
The UK scheme, who’s final results will be posted early 2023 has so far shown that productivity has improved for 49% of the companies taking part, with 46% reporting no loss of productivity.
With growing concerns around employee mental health and burnout, many business leaders are looking for ways to keep their people motivated and engaged and reduce the marked high levels of turnover of the past two years.
Productive ways of working
These pilot schemes have given a snapshot into more productive working patterns. Employees have reported greater control over their schedules, cancelling unnecessary meetings, cutting wasted time on ‘filler’ tasks and redesigning work practices in ways that prioritise collaboration, productivity and motivation.
Much of this follows the concept of Parkinson’s Law – that work will expand to fill the allotted time. Whether there are 5 days or 4, the amount of work that is completed will likely be the same. The difference will be in the efficiency with which the work is completed – the breaks, the procrastination, the levels of focus. So, by reducing the allotted time for each task by 20% (and removing a couple of those “should have been an email” type meetings) each week, high productivity levels aren’t difficult to imagine.
One of the key roles of a great leadership team is finding the right balance between ensuring high levels of productivity and protecting your team from burnout. A four day working week could be one answer to this problem.
Here are some other tactics to ensure that team members don’t fall foul of burnout:
1) Clear working hours and boundaries
Making sure that every team member knows what their hours are, and that they’re not expected to deal with queries outside of these working hours. In facilities management, emergencies come up, and most people working in the sector are sensitive to this.
To prevent burnout or disengagement, make sure that they are contacted outside of their regular hours only in the case of absolute emergencies, and offer them flexibility as well as overtime pay or TOIL in return for this. When smaller, less important issues start to filter into inboxes during the evenings, the work/life boundaries begin to blur.
2) Measuring on outcomes rather hours
Rather that clock watching, move to a system where team members are measured by their working outputs – the actual tasks or projects they complete during the week, rather than the hours they have physically worked. This requires a high level of trust between team member and manager, but where it works, it can be highly empowering, and helps teams to become more autonomous and productive.
3) Encourage time off
It may sound counter-intuitive, but in reality, if your team are rested, if they take regular breaks from work, if they work in a culture where time off is a celebrated part of being a productive team member, you’re likely to build a team that works harder and has higher overall morale, because they feel looked after. Making sure that staff aren’t forced to come to work when sick, or unable to take requested time off will go a long way to creating a culture that avoids burnout.
4) Feedback
Nearly two-thirds (65%) of professionals would like to give anonymous feedback to their managers. Do you have a route for this? If the only opportunity that staff have to provide feedback is during their one-to-ones, it’s unlikely that you’re getting a true representation of how they are feeling about work. If you want to take a true litmus test on burnout and your teams’ wellbeing, take regular, anonymous surveys, or offer an anonymous feedback scheme.
Should you adopt a four-day working week?
Ultimately, a four-day working week is just one way of showing flexibility, autonomy and trust to your team members, and it’s these principles that are leading to better outcomes. Ensure that you weave them into the way you lead your teams and you’ll see better results.
