THREE DAY WEEKENDS PLUS A FEW TWEAKS.
Whose up for working less hours? I’m guessing most of us would be happy to be able to choose to spend less time working and more time on life.?But is it really practical? Could it actually work?
Well there are a number of experiments that have been done over the years which demonstrate that productivity isn’t really about the number of hours we work.?Some time ago, Tim Ferris put forward his “Four Hour Workweek” during an era when 9 to 5, chained to a desk was the gold standard of work. His idea was embraced by some with enthusiasm and mocked by others as ridiculous.?That was waaay before the pandemic.
Before the pandemic, working from home was seen as being something only the lucky few could realistically do.?
Fast forward to today and we’re now seeing that remote working, working from home and hybrid working can actually work - and work pretty well.
Recently, I read about an experiment being done to decide if “The Four Day Workweek” was feasible. Nothing new, really. We’ve been hearing about this suggestion, which, I think began in Europe and is now being bandied about here. My first thought while reading the headline was: a three day weekend is a nice idea, but would it just put more pressure on people to perform and ultimately cause more stress?
Once I began to delve into the article, I noticed some interesting things. Things that made me smile because I realized that it’s not only about working four days a week instead of five. It’s about how the work environment is managed to enable this. It’s about understanding how people work best. It’s about listening to what’s important to them. It’s about giving them permission to figure things out and experiment.
This isn’t just important. It’s crucial. With the skyrocketing concerns about burnout and mental health, leaders are becoming much more aware of the necessity to look beyond hours logged and check boxes ticked.
To get back to the experiment I mentioned, it’s apparently the world’s biggest trial - a 6 month pilot with 3300 workers across 70 companies. Pay wasn’t cut but workers agreed to maintain 100% of their productivity. The objective of the experiment is to determine:
“…the impact the new working pattern will have on productivity levels, gender equality, the environment as well as?worker well-being. At the end of November, companies can decide whether or not to stick with the new schedule.”
Maintaining, or increasing productivity when people have more time off, or even more control over their time, is not surprising. We’ve been seeing that kind of result for the past two years. What surprised me was that the organizations involved didn’t simply cut a day a week from the schedule, but they also looked at what could be done to facilitate greater productivity in the shorter timespan.
I was surprised because much of the tweaking that was done could’ve been done long, long ago… it seems no one really thought about it previously. Or, perhaps the pressure to do so wasn’t there until the experiment was launched.?
Some of the tweaks made were:
领英推荐
As I mentioned, none of these tweaks were strategies which couldn’t have been implemented previously. But now that they were, the results were positive:
Workers on the new schedule called it ‘life changing’ and ‘phenomenal’
A leader noted that "[The team] started realizing that they were smashing projects that they had always put on the back burner"
The organizations involved in this experiment are reaping the reward of the same, or better productivity, along with happier and harder working teams and a more enjoyable work environment for all.
One thing I found very telling, given all the above, was the comment of one of the leaders the article quoted.?She pointed out that for the first two weeks there was ‘chaos’ during the transition, but that “her team quickly found ways to make it work”.?We’re then told that by the fourth week her team had hit their stride. She followed this positive news by a caveat: ‘..but admits there is "absolutely" a possibility she could reinstate a five-day schedule if?productivity levels?drop over the course of the six-month trial..... There's a good 25% chance that we won't get to keep it, but the team so far are fighting incredibly hard for it"?'?
Reading that, I admit I had raised eyebrows… the TEAM quickly found ways to make it work.?Within a month they’d found their stride. The TEAM is fighting incredibly hard to keep this four day workweek schedule. Yet, there’s still a chance it might be removed if the TEAM doesn’t keep up productivity.??
What’s my point??Well, obviously no leader, no organization wants to lower their productivity. But when you have a TEAM who are pulling out all the stops to make something work - something which benefits everyone - I would say that you’re a very fortunate leader. The TEAM has shown what they want and how they can make it work so that they can deliver what the leader wants. I’d think a little trust would be in order… and a lot of appreciation shown to that TEAM.
And, of course, as you’ll already know if you’ve been following me - Optevo can help with creating a better, more productive and enjoyable work environment by unifying communication, facilitating collaboration, making workflow transparent and overall preventing time wasting!?Our objective is to ensure that your work life doesn’t become your life’s work!
If you haven’t been following me, but you like what you see, please 'ring the bell' at the top right hand of my profile to be notified when I post an article.?
Award-Winning Author, The Canary Code | Professor, Organizational Psychology & Business | Speaker | Culture | HR | Inclusion | Belonging | Wellbeing | ?? Moral Injury | Neurodiversity | Autism @ Work | Global Diversity |
2 年Gettign meetings to a bare minimum and allowing time for deep work makes all the difference! I am astounded that many companies don't realize how ineffective their "business and usual" is.
Growing Authenticity, Careers, Impact, and Freedom ?? Executive Coach ?? Team Performance Training ?? Ex Apple
2 年There was no pressure to make these changes until a commitment was made to the 4-day work week. That principle is universal. A change may be nice in concept, but until you commit to it, there isn't enough energy to make it happen. Considering that ~60% of employee time is spent on "busy work" (email, slack, meetings, etc), and that the average person is productive for about 2-3 hrs/day, the data suggest it's a no-brainer that a 4 day work week would be better. But talk about cultural resistance... It seems to me a lot comes back to commitment Andre Williams. At the risk of putting you on the spot, I'm curious... have you thought about a 4-day workweek at Optevo?
I Create Digital Marketing Products for Coaches & Course Creators | Digital Entrepreneur | 9x Presidents Club in Sales for a $2B Company | Mindset Nerd | Bio Hacker & Human Performance Geek
2 年Andre Williams I'm so down with this. Why? Because who TF came up with a 5 day work week in the first place? Its an industrial age concept that we've adopted yet is really a construct. Why can't you get the same amount and more done in less time? We can! This is brilliant.
Integrating empathy & research to share the art of heart at work.
2 年Andre Williams Listening to employees, appreciating their work and commitment, discovering their respective preferences, giving trust, and scheduling time for uninterrupted deep work are relatively new concepts in the new workplace. As co-creators with supportive leadership, the majority of team members will will put effort into activities that they have helped to build. For team members to have a weekday that they can schedule medical appointments, run errands, do carpool, or the other necessities and responsibilities of their family life with greater independence is a very positive motivator.