Why I ended 5.30 finishes.

I started Hydrogen over 6 months ago and this was one of the first things that I wanted to do differently. I’ve always hated a 5.30pm finish and decided that there was no way that I was going to set this rule when I started my own business.

Here’s why it doesn’t work for me.

As a senior manager in multiple businesses before Hydrogen, I sat there watching as the post 5 ‘fever’ set in. There were those in the team who were light on work that would chat, go for a game of table-tennis, start their leaving the office rituals or simply clock-watch. Then there were those who did have a lot to do and wanted to wrap it all up before going, they often ending up resenting the others. I also wanted to implement a culture where staff are not taken to task for finishing 5 minutes early regardless of the fact that they probably worked through their lunch and were in 15 minutes early.

So, what’s the solution?

At Hydrogen we don’t have a strict closing time. We loosely say 5pm but if you need to shoot off at 4.30pm to get a train, or if you need to leave at 4.55pm every day to beat the traffic, that’s fine. If things are all wrapped up for the week at 3.30pm on a Friday and you want to shoot off for the weekend, that’s also fine - I’m not going demand that staff make that time back up nor am I going to chase you down the street and ask where you are going!

The reason I think this approach works is that it ends that moment where one minute you are leaving ‘early’ and people are judging and the next it’s all ok for everybody in the office to lift their belongings and walk out the door. In my opinion, this shift in the psychology of the ‘end of the day’ reduces wasted time, anxiety around having to get things finished and that need for everybody to justify their working time and effort.

What’s the result? 

It’s early days, but quite simply, we’re all adults and we’re all professionals. The team are trusted and I’ve yet to see it abused. We work the hours we need to work, we do what the clients require, we continue to grow at a rate that I could of only have dreamt of 6 months ago and everybody seems happier for it.

“But you work in an agency? Agency staff never leave on time, they always work late” I hear you say. True, I’ve worked in places where the culture is one where you don’t ever get out the door until after 6 or 7pm. But I can say hand on heart, 95% of the time, we’re all heading home by 5. Why? Because by not implementing an ‘end-of-day’ time people, just knuckle down and get on with it during their working day, they get wrapped up and they get off home to enjoy their evening. It’s also worth saying, we work in social media which never switches off. Our entire team therefore don’t fully switch off when they leave the office. When we leave, our phones are on. If we take client calls we do so without moaning that it has eaten into our ‘personal time’ and we respond to client requirements as they come up. The difference is, it is give and take, not just take.

In essence, I’ve cut 2.5 hours off the working week and given my team the freedom to wrap things up whenever they want each day. Productivity and positivity have never been higher, complaints are pretty much non-existent and clients are happy. So to answer the question of “what is the result of this approach?”, genuine success I’d say, at least at this early stage.

Have you tried something like this in the past? I’d love to hear about its impact.