... four awesome days.

Today was officially the first day that WF shifted to a four-day working week model. It’s a model we’ve been interested in for a couple of years now, and after a lot of research and planning, we’re starting in earnest this month.

We’ve always known that the value we provide comes from a combination of clear thinking, inventive ideas and a brilliant team culture and we’ve always been committed to doing everything we can to help our team do the best work they can for our clients. This feels like a massive step forward and is, we hope, a change that will help us do even better work in the future.

There’s a ton of research now that there are genuine productivity and qualitative benefits from this model, and a wide variety of variations have been adopted around the world so far.

Our model is based on a simple principle: the same pay, for four awesome days. The model we’re adopting is that every Friday is a ‘personal day’ that our team can use for any thing that helps them to do brilliant work and be happier doing it. This can be a mix of professional and personal development: reading or writing more, trying out a new tool, learning something new, spending extra time with their kids or simply getting more time to rest and think.

One Friday each quarter is a ‘company day’ where we’ll spend the day together to focus on how we improve our working methods, creative thinking, team culture or anything else that impacts our work.

This is one of the most progressive and energising changes we’ve made to WF since we started. The process has already generated some great ideas that will lead to a better team culture and better work.

Thanks to all the people who provided support and insights to help make this happen. We’ll share our experiences and learnings periodically, and if anyone is interested in adopting a similar approach and wants to discuss any of the thinking that went in to getting here, feel free to message me.