It’s no secret that the traditional 9 to 5 work day is slowly dying. With advances in technology and the ever-growing demand for a better work/life balance, more and more businesses are transitioning to a 4 day work week. There’s even a global initiative right now that is helping more businesses make that transition.
This can be a scary transition for some business owners, but it doesn’t have to be. In this blog post, we will give you 3 tips on how to make the transition to a 4 day work week and keep your productivity high!
The COVID pandemic has changed the way we all work. For many of us, working from home has become the new normal. And while there are some definite advantages to this (no commute; more flexible hours; the list is long), there are also some challenges that come along with it.
One of the biggest challenges for businesses is knowing how they can maintain productivity when employees are not in the office. Not being able to see how employees are working has resulted in a number of big businesses already asking their employees to return to the office. However, this could be a regression rather than a step forward in terms of working methods.
Productivity has evolved drastically over the past century and since the Industrial Revolution. Back then, productivity was all about working longer hours for less pay. The theory was that if you worked more, you would produce more. But we now know that this isn’t always the case. Advancements in technology we’ve seen in recent years has had a big impact. In fact, previous research indicating that productivity falls after about 40 hours per week may already be obsolete.
New measures of productivity for businesses are now being looked at. These include not just the number of hours worked, but also the quality of those hours and the output produced. In addition to measuring employee engagement and retention rates, business have started to look at how they can assist their employees with their mental, physical, and financial health.
Tip #01: Define What “Productivity” Means for Your Business
The first step is to sit down and define what productivity means for your business. This may seem like a no-brainer. You would be surprised how many businesses don’t have a clear understanding of what productivity looks like for them. Is it still defined by the number of hours worked? The output produced? Something else entirely? Once you have a clear understanding of what productivity means for your business, you can start to put systems and processes in place to help you achieve it.
In reality, individuals are not working at full capacity 100% of their working hours each week. Research shows that the average worker is only productive for about three hours in an eight-hour workday. So, if we take this into account, a four-day workweek doesn’t seem so far-fetched after all.
Simplistically, it’s ensuring that employees are able to commit to longer hours of deep focus time when working. According to productivity expert Alex Pang, “Research indicates that five hours is about the maximum that most of us can concentrate hard on something” (Taylor 2021). So how can we increase their productive hours from three to at least five hours a day? But, as we all know, it’s not that simple. Making this change will require some adjustments on the part of businesses and their employees.
Tip #02: Evaluate Your Current Work Schedule
The next step is to take a close look at your current work schedule. Are there time blocks that could be shortened or eliminated altogether? Are there ways you can stagger start and end times to allow for more flexibility? Are there any unnecessary meeting booked in to people’s diaries where it’s not important for everyone to attend? Once you have a good understanding of how you and your employees are currently spending your time, you can start to make changes that will allow for a more productive workweek.
The transition to a four-day workweek may be initiated once a time audit is completed. Keep in mind that making the switch from a five-day workweek to a four-day workweek might be quite difficult for both businesses and individuals, especially those who are more resistant to change. You must take the time to plan, communicate, and implement slowly.
Tip #03: Implement a Four-Day Workweek Slowly
Start by implementing one or two days a month and see how it goes. Choose a day of the week that all employees agrees to. Some may prefer an extended weekend. Others may prefer a mid-week day off. If it’s not working out, you can always go back to the five-day workweek schedule. Re-evaluate what needs to be done differently to get it right. If it is working, you can slowly start to increase the number of days until you’re working a four-day workweek full-time.
When working with businesses on this transition, our preference is for that no-work day to be mid-week and ideally a Wednesday. Breaking up the week into two halves is intentional by design. In general, the first two days of the work week are for deep focus and getting urgent and important things done. The last two days are for more collaborative not urgent but important work and thinking about the future. If you think there is some semblance to the Eisenhower Matrix, you’d be right.
What more, I do believe that the freed-up day of no work has a special purpose. It’s more than just a day off to rest. If productivity measures are to include employee wellbeing considerations, it’s important that the no-work day is utilised by individuals in activities that would improve their overall wellbeing and ability to focus.
One easy consideration is to find an activity that would generate a flow of dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins in the body. Why specifically those hormones? They’ve been shown to alleviate stress, improve focus, increase productivity and creativity. On a personal note, this is why mid-week golf works well for me. A game of golf achieves all of the above requirements.
Do you think transitioning to a four-day work week is something your business could benefit from? What activities could you and your employees do on the no-work day?
Reference:
Taylor, M 2021, The perfect number of hours to work every day? Five, WIRED UK, WIRED UK, viewed 29 July 2022, <https://www.wired.co.uk/article/working-day-time-five-hours>.