The Four-Day Workweek: Warning to Small Business Owners Before Jumping on the Bandwagon
A six-month trial*?by 61 companies testing the costs and benefits of a four-day week on full pay, has come to an end, with 92% continuing the four-day week, including 18 who have made it permanent. Whilst it’s been hailed as evidence that it could work across the UK economy, author of Amazon #1 bestseller?‘I don’t work Fridays’?Martin Norbury warns small business owners of key considerations before jumping on the bandwagon.
Norbury explains:
“We celebrate a four-day working week as for us it’s all about choice and the drive towards a healthier work-life balance.?Yet it’s our experience of working with small business owners across 70+ sectors that the biggest stumbling block is letting go; either letting go too early or not quick enough. To successfully move to a four-day working week, small business owners must stop controlling everything and start delegating, accepting that others may have their own (and better!) ways of doing things.”
Norbury urges entrepreneurs:
“Before a small business moves to a four-day working week, it’s important that they consider whether it’s possible for their business. In other words, do they have the structure in place to support it?”
“Businesses will benefit from having a more structured approach to operations because of transitioning to a four-day working week as it forces them to have a plan. It makes businesses act more transparently, have more visibility, and to communicate more effectively.”
Once the business owner has let go and has the right structure in place, Norbury explains the next challenge of moving to a four-day work week:
“It’s our experience that business owners simply don’t know enough about their business; they throw everything at it and hope something sticks. To make the shift to a reduced working week, entrepreneurs will have to get intimate with their business to understand the impact on productivity and profitability.?I’ve met too many entrepreneurs who simply don’t know their numbers or how their business is performing right now, let alone in the future.”
One final challenge many businesses face is a lack of focus.?Norbury elaborates:
“The small business owners I’ve worked with are all fantastic at the start-up phase; their hard work and commitment is incredible.?But by nature, many become distracted by shiny new tools or the ‘next big thing’.?They mustn’t just jump on the four-day work week bandwagon unless they have an end game and a clear plan to get there.”
Norbury has helped hundreds of business owners successfully transition to reduced working hours via his mentoring programs so that business owners can have a business on their own T.E.R.M.S and that successfully runs whether they turn up or not.
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Norbury concludes:
“When businesses have transitioned to a four-day working week, one of the biggest things the owners and their employees benefit from is improved mental health. They can spend more time with their friends and family, spend less time commuting, and they come back on Monday feeling better rested.”
In his #1 Amazon Bestseller?‘I don’t work Fridays’?Martin Norbury explains why the entrepreneur is the wrong person to grow their business, and reveals a simple 5-step formula to give leaders confidence, a clear structure and process to follow, and a set of simple tools to help business owners achieve growth and realise their ambitions – without growing broke.
*?The pilot is coordinated by?4 Day Week Global, in partnership with leading think tank?Autonomy, the 4 Day Week Campaign, and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College. See also?The 4 Day Week Campaign
Ends
Martin Norbury is available to provide expert comment on business growth, investment, and exit. Please??call 0203 603 1112 for further information / media photos.
Notes to editors:
About Martin Norbury & I don’t work Fridays:
Martin Norbury of?Advocate Business Services?went from small time entrepreneur to SME business owner and onto CEO of a multi-million-pound corporation in just ten years. His Scale Model? is used across 70+ industries, earning him the badge of The Scalability Coach.?Martin in a multi-award-winning entrepreneur including:
In his #1 Amazon Bestseller?I don’t work Fridays, Martin explains why the entrepreneur is the wrong person to grow their business, and reveals a simple 5-step formula to give leaders confidence, a clear structure and process to follow, and a set of simple tools to help business owners achieve growth and realise their ambitions – without growing broke.