4-day week: An international phenomenon

Traditionally, the typical 5-day, 40-hour working week aimed to establish a work-life balance: 8 hours working, 8 hours free time and 8 hours sleeping. However, despite this seemingly logical equilibrium, people still struggle to find time for their activities outside of work. With times changing, companies and public administrations in countries such as New Zealand, the USA, Iceland and Japan have been trialling a four-day work week with interesting results.

Work smarter

The focus for the four-day week is a “work smarter” approach, with productivity at the forefront. Many companies choose to encourage and empower team members to find solutions for how to work fewer hours but maintain their workload efficiently. Initiatives have surfaced such as reducing meeting times, having an agenda and planning how to work together and respect other colleagues’ time.

Trust at its centre

One trial found that employee engagement rose by 40%¹, a result which surprised researchers and demonstrates the power of putting trust in team members.

In fact, Professor Haar, who conducted the analysis, noted that employees’ trust in management significantly increased, likely owing to the trust they were willing to place in their workforce and the feedback they sought from their team.

Higher levels of trust among colleagues was also reported, due to the need for team organisation and support to ensure tasks are completed. Undoubtedly, these findings indicate improvement in engagement, performance and retention for the whole company.

Boundless benefits

Implementing a four-day week has been shown to improve quality of life and work-life balance, with lower stress and burnout frequently reported. The extra time allows people to pursue hobbies, education or further qualifications if they wish, as well as to care for or simply spend more time with family members.

Organisationally, a shorter schedule can not only reduce office costs, but also the company’s environmental footprint, with knock-on effects such as a reduction in pollution due to decreased commuting. Furthermore, it can even bring benefits to the local economy, with people spending more money in their new free time.

Given the overwhelmingly positive results in increased productivity, satisfaction and improvement of work-life balance, Virtual Sports provider GoldenRace happily announced the beginning of the new schedule in some of its offices.

From 4th October, team members in Malaga, Seville, Medellín and Marbella will begin enjoying the benefits of the four-day week. Client-facing teams will be organised so that each person takes advantage of this groundbreaking initiative, whilst ensuring that GoldenRace’s top-quality client service is maintained.

¹Source: White Paper

- The Four-Day Week Guidelines for an Outcome-Based Trial - Raising Productivity and Engagement. In association with Coulthard Barnes, Perpetual Guardian, The University of Auckland, Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and MinterEllisonRuddWatts.