You may have noticed from a recent Twitter post from twinfm.com that a four-day working week is to be trialled for six months in June 2022, and it’s not just for office workers. Six companies have signed up for the flexible working experiment, including Canon’s British office.
The pilot is being coordinated by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with the UK think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign and researchers at Cambridge University, Boston College and Oxford University.
Companies will ask employees to work a four-day week with no cut to pay, based on the 100:80:100 principle. This is where employees commit to working for 100 per cent of their pay, in 80 per cent of their usual hours, with 100 per cent productivity.
A number of studies have shown that at some point, productivity decreases as the number of hours worked increases. Forty-hour workweeks may be wearing people out needlessly.
Some companies worldwide have pulled off a four-day workweek for a year or more, and Japan’s government has recommended it as national policy. It’s not a new idea, but it seems to have come under greater consideration since the COVID-19 pandemic generated a broad re-evaluation of how we work, including a great work-from-home migration and hybrid office implementation.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The idea behind a four-day workweek is to achieve the same results in fewer hours so people have more time to pursue other interests, spend time with loved ones, and manage their lives.
Companies could benefit through increased sales, decreased worker burnout, and lower staff turnover, among other positives.
Emphasising results instead of hours logged means that there’s no need to cut pay or benefits.
A major shift in how we think about, and approach work is a precursor to standardising a four-day work week.
A 4-day week can lead to happier and more committed employees. Employees are less likely to be stressed or take sick leave as they have plenty of time to rest and recover. As a result, they return to work feeling ready to take on new challenges.
Countries with shorter working hours typically have a smaller carbon footprint so reducing our work week from 5 to 4 days could have an environmental benefit too. Shortening our working week means that employees don’t need to commute as much and large office buildings are only in use four days a week.
Regardless of how beneficial it actually is, it’s still possible to get too excited about the 4-day work week. As with the recent hype around working from home, it’s easy to forget that not everyone can benefit equally from it. Just as retail, hospitality, and other service industry workers can’t all just work from home, there are employees who either can’t have a 4-day week, or are simply being passed over.
Of all the disadvantages of a 4-day work week, this is the most significant. Whether it’s nurses and other frontline NHS staff who are in too short supply, or teachers stuck on the same five-day schedule as their students, there are some people a 4-day week isn’t feasible for.
We often talk about 4-day work week challenges as they apply to office workers, but teachers, nurses and other forgotten employees need the wellbeing benefits of a 4-day week as much as anyone else. However, the only way they’ll get it is if those sectors get much-needed infusions of fresh talent and the money to pay for it. Until our teachers, nurses, and other essential contributors can also take 4-day work weeks, it will never be universal the way people want it to be.
The first step is not to drop everything and work on the strategy right away. First, you need to make sure that there is a genuine need for it. This means that you have to analyse your organisation’s culture, work habits, and job requirements - that way you will be able to identify which areas are candidates for flexible working.
Once you have identified which organisations can benefit from a flexible working system, it is time to analyse the benefits that you can gain from it. It is also important to determine whether there are any disadvantages. In other words, you need to find out everything that makes the organization’s culture reluctant to introduce flexible work systems.
It may seem strange, but there’s a big difference between a challenge and a problem – although both are often seen as quite similar. For instance, technology might be a challenge when it comes to adopting a hybrid workplace -- but it doesn't have to be a problem (as there are many tools that can help with office booking, communication, project management, and so on).
Flexible working systems are not just good for employees -- they are also great benefits for HR and facility managers. They can help both businesses and employees achieve better results, more efficiently, with less money spent. For the right reasons. And that’s why they’re so important to have in place today, especially in a post-pandemic context.
A five-day week is a century old tradition, however this model is fast becoming outdated. Employees need to be measured by output, not hours served. This is particularly true within the FM industry where facilities manager’s roles are becoming ever more diverse.
Moorcroft have worked with some of the biggest companies in the FM sector. We don’t just want to work with you, we want to understand your culture, your ambition and what kind of people fit your company. How do we do this? Well, we talk to real people and build real relationships. Technology is vital to all our work. However, it is no substitute for picking up the phone. This is what we do and our skill lies in identifying the right people – we pride ourselves on it! We have a proven track record and we strive to work with the best people for each project.
If you have a recruitment requirement, please contact Simon Moorcroft in the first instance.
Email: simon@moorcroftconsulting.com
Website: www.moorcroftconsulting.com
Twitter: @MoorcroftRec
