Work less, for more?

The Boomtown Rats didn’t like Mondays. The Cure were in love on Fridays. The Beatles worked eight days a week. If these iconic bands ran companies, who knows what our working schedules might look like. But it's not just a musical fantasy to reimagine business hours. Last week, the largest set of data from companies who have been trialing a four day week in the uk was released and the results were fascinating.

Participants agreed to produce the same output for the same pay, while only working for four days. What is interesting to me is that revenues stayed largely the same across the 61 organizations that took part, but that the 2900 staff logged significantly improved wellbeing.

Employees experienced less stress and burnout. They cited an ability to juggle work, caring responsibilities and social commitments more easily as the main reason. There was also better job retention and a substantial reduction in sick days taken.

I confess to having had mixed feelings about the idea when I started writing this article. As someone who has never had a conventional working life, the discipline I would need to adopt to stop work totally for 3 days feels wildly unrealistic. You cannot say no to a board meeting just because you are having a day off. And as the co-founder of a hospitality business, Lucky Voice, it feels an ordeal to reengineer it while also continuing to serve our customers. But I inherently like the innovation and the impressive results to date. So how have companies done it and what lessons can be learnt?

There are three areas that seem to be common to all the successful converts. All three are data related.

Firstly, doing a detailed business analysis to find areas where you have weak processes and are going to slow down productivity is very helpful. For example, Pursuit marketing in Scotland found that many of their meetings and internal communications were taking up too much time. They decided to switch to shorter, more focused meetings. They also eliminated unnecessary paperwork and digitized more of their processes, all before changing the company’s hours. This meant they were operating as efficiently as they could before the change.

Next, you need to get specific about any areas of your business that will suffer disproportionately after the reduction in hours. For example, Treehouse digital, a design agency in Bristol overhauled their internal processes but also spent time working out how to manage their clients expectations. It was business critical to ensure they were on the same wavelength about projects and expectations of when they would get face to face time.

Thirdly, it is essential to measure any outcomes of the change regularly and in detail. I like the sound of the Oxley manufacturing group in Cumbria. They moved to a thirty seven hour week a year ago. They closely monitor a set of metrics every quarter to keep checking in with progress. The last data showed a 100% employee satisfaction rate. They cite great data as a vital part of making the shift to a four day week such a triumph.

I admire these companies. It’s hard to make any bold business transformation.I am sure many other digital marketing and many other manufacturing businesses face employee and skills shortages. Perhaps some could benefit from thinking about flexibility as a competitive advantage.

There are, of course, challenges. A minority of companies decided not to carry on with the arrangement after the trial and for some businesses, it might be impossible to start at all. Much of the research on the policy is limited by size of business. Most of the companies that took part in the U.K. trial were small - sixty six percent had 25 or fewer employees and so were probably predisposed to exploring the concept of flexible work.

More concerningly, ninety percent of the participating employees were white, and sixty eight percent had at least an undergraduate degree. It would be a terrible bi-product of this potentially powerful, structural change if even more of a two tier jobs market was hardwired into business practice.

This danger feels very real for workers in industries such as child care, social care and health care, which already face widespread staff shortages. The opportunity to change your timetable is much tougher. In addition, some workers may want to work more and earn more rather than have an enforced cap on their time. These considerations must be worked though upfront so there are fewer unintended consequences.

With more large-scale trials starting and more politicians considering formal positions on the issue, more businesses making a shift feels somewhat inevitable. I would argue that it’s worth thinking now if it’s right for you and your teams. At worst, you will create valuable data analyzing how you spend your time and understanding the needs of your employees. At best you might gain huge upside with a happier, healthier and a more engaged company.

It might not be my best idea to use pop bands as inspiration for working hours policies - imagine Simon and Garfunkel asking you to come in on Wednesday at 3am or Sam Cooke demanding Another Saturday night. Perhaps however, The New (business) Order will be no more Blue Mondays.