REWARD
Frances Guy, chief executive at Scotland’s International Development Alliance: “The Alliance was very happy to have had the opportunity to participate in the four-day week trial… The pilot has been a positive experience, with staff reporting improved personal well-being and decreased stress. We are pleased, as a member organisation, to have demonstrated that it is possible to maintain results on reduced hours and hope our members will benefit from our experience.” Henry Stewart, chief happiness officer at Happy: “… we have had a substantial increase in sales with no increase in staffing. Does that mean the staff are more stressed? No, they all say that their well-being is better now. “Were there any challenges? There were when we first did it in August 2019, where we didn’t fully prepare and some people felt stressed by it. Last year, we had a full four months of preparation, we ensured everybody was fully involved and it absolutely worked.” Dr Mark Downs, chief executive of the Royal Society of Biology: “The four-day week has given the opportunity to provide our employees with a better work-life balance, whether it’s spending quality time with family and friends, personal development with hobbies or generally relaxing to reduce stress and burnout. Especially after the pandemic, workers now have different expectations around what constitutes a healthy life-work balance… The Society has continued to operate on a five-day a week basis through a rota system and a survey of our partners and stakeholders confirmed there have been no obvious changes to availability or service levels. Against that and the clear staff benefit, the trustees have agreed to continue this flexible working offer into 2023, with an annual review. “We’ve seen that the pros outweigh the cons, as shown in the report, and we are glad to give our employees flexibility and more time to decompress for a better work-life balance.” Dominic Hobdell, operations and finance officer at AKA Case Management: “…in terms of challenges, as I say there is a lot of background work needed on how it will work for individual companies. I think the main one for us was managing some staff reactions of ‘that’ll never work’ and ‘I couldn’t possibly do that, I have clients to support.’ We had to help bring them round to see how it can be possible – this takes time and it was great to have the support of 4 Day Week Global to get advice from people who have already gone through it. “That said, for us, the positives far outweighed the challenges we came up against – which is why we have decided to make it a permanent benefit. “I genuinely can’t think of any other challenges, it’s just getting used to a new way of working and we addressed things as they came up (e.g. removing non value add tasks to free up lost time, being mindful not to copy people into unnecessary emails especially on their day off, etc).” Paul David, co-founder and CEO, Literal Humans: “After a successful six-month trial in the UK, we’ve decided to continue with the four-day work week. It’s a major value add for our team on multiple levels. It helps us recruit better talent. Our team’s mental and physical health is better… It’s not all roses. What we found challenging was adjusting specific roles (like a project manager who manages other folks’ work) to the four-day work week. There need to be more guides and resources to help companies of different sizes make the transition effectively. Overall, we’re extremely positive on the change and are now considering it part of our unique selling proposition as an agency.” Laura Clarke, director at Chilwell Products Ltd: “We weren’t actually a part of the national trial – we converted to a four-day week in January 2022 and our own trial was carried out in 2021… Initially it took a few months to get used to and there were a couple of our staff members that perhaps felt a little bit lost. “I see that more companies need to be asking themselves, is the current way we operate optimal for success? The people at the heart of the business are a massive factor in that success so what is optimal for them? Focus on outcomes and purpose, not just figures and numbers as a goal – it’s such a finite way of thinking!”
Reality or fantasy? When considering the results of the study and comments from participants, it appears there’s a lot of support for the four-day working week. The results show this new working pattern doesn’t appear to be a temporary ‘hype’ but seems to be gaining steady global traction. With many companies sticking
with the implementation of this new way of work and many yet to join, this could be a revolution for both workers and employers. With proven positive impacts to employees’ work-life balance, this could soon become an attractive recruitment tool for businesses looking to hire new staff. This new working pattern is a subject
of ongoing debate and will continue to be for some time. Will this help the economy grow by introducing creativity in the labour market? Will this become the new norm or will it be a short-lived benefit? The seed has been planted, and we’ll need to watch this space to see how it grows. n
33
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 90 | May 2023
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker