MONDAY–THURSDAY
ARE 4-DAY WORKWEEKS THE SECRET TO PRODUCTIVITY?
a problem in the United States, providing employees with a better work-life balance may be the secret to a happier, more productive workplace. After the successful trial, Perpetual Guardian opted to stick with the four-day workweek permanently. They provide several tips for implementing a four-day workweek at your company.
Could you get more done with one less day in the week?
Of course not! Most of us need more time in the week, not less. At least, that’s the assumption. But a New Zealand company recently proved that when it comes to company productivity, less may mean more. In March of 2018, Perpetual Guardian, a finance management company in New Zealand, began testing a four-day workweek for its 240 employees. Researchers from the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology studied the firm before, during, and after the trial. Perpetual Guardian isn’t the first company to test-drive a four-day workweek, but during the trial period, they did something unusual: They didn’t reduce employees’ salaries. Paying employees for five days of work while only requiring four days sounds like a surefire way to bankrupt a company, but researchers found the change had the opposite effect. By trimming the hours down and maintaining pay, Perpetual Guardian saw a 20 percent increase in productivity. The shorter workweek motivated employees to get their work done quicker by cutting down meeting times, becoming more self-motivated, and telling their colleagues when they were being distracting. After the trial, employees at Perpetual Guardian also reported feeling 7 percent less stressed and reported a 24 percent improvement in work-life balance. Considering the fact that burnout, and the sick days that come with it, is such JUST LIKE MAGIC Do any of you struggle to pass off tasks you know you can do yourself? Last month, I spent several hours building a landing page for my podcast previews. It was a pretty decent page, but when I reflected on the time I spent making it, I was hard-pressed to justify it. Was this the best use of my time? Probably not. I enjoyed doing it, but there were bigger projects I should have been focusing on. Delegation is something I still struggle with. As a business leader, I feel excited about so many ideas that I know can improve efficiency, and I also often feel like I can get things done quicker myself. During my conference in San Diego in March, I learned about a new tool that promises to solve some of these challenges. It's called Magic, and it’s an on-demand, personal-assistant service that takes care of small tasks to make the lives of business owners, and anyone for that matter, easier. Magic isn’t AI. It uses text messaging and email to help you contact trained personal assistants, and then it manages the fulfillment of your requests. The service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You pay by the minute for the service,
assure them there will be no drop in service. Ensure the new employment structure doesn’t cut across legal requirements. Be clear that the aim of the initiative is to benefit the company as well as the employees. Recognize that flexible working initiatives aren’t magic bullets.
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Do your own web and local research. Speak to your staff and be clear about your objectives. Ensure policy is well- supported and resourced. Create a policy that can flex depending on workloads, projects, or customer requirements. Let your customers know what’s going on and
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If you’re interested in learning more about Perpetual Guardian’s four-day workweek, check out the white paper written by The University of Auckland researchers at 4DayWeek.co.nz/four-day-week-trial.
THE ON-DEMAND PERSONAL ASSISTANT
and when you text Magic to complete a task, like scheduling a doctor’s appointment, it takes care of it for you.
So, I put Magic to the test. I’ve been wanting to do more meal preps so I eat better and don’t go out to lunch as often. I gave Magic my macronutrient levels, and they gave me a spreadsheet with lists of meals. They made it simple to get this done, and the turnaround was fast. Later, in a meeting with my marketing manager, I realized we need more information about our marketing efforts. He’s been tracking these monthly, but I wanted more detail without the task eating up his time. So I suggested we let Magic take care of it. We now simply download the raw data and send it off to Magic. They process it and have a spreadsheet to us for our Friday meetings, so we can use it to make decisions for the coming week. I don’t know if Magic will solve all my delegation challenges, but it is a promising solution to small but important issues that can easily get put on the back burner.
2 | www . reiblaw . com
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