On the morning of a recent Wednesday, Matt Kimber did not connect with his work as a senior engineer in a software company. Instead, he went for a walk around his neighborhood in London, had lunch at a coffee and played with his two gleaks.
Your employer, Brandpipe, was pleased to hear that. The company is one of several British that is testing one without salary reduction, part of a six -month test involving about 1,000 workers organized by the 4 Day Week Defense Group.
56 of the 61 participating companies, or 92%, said they would continue with the four -day week, the group said. He hopes to make way for a week of four days and 32 hours to be consecrated under British legislation, reducing the maximum number of hours currently allowed by law. Similar efforts have occurred in Iceland, New Zealand, Scotland and the United States.
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“It’s a solid business sense,” said Geoff Slaughter, co -founder of Brandpipe. “If you have a happy team, you are less likely to lose it.”
“Having analyzed the research, it frankly looked like an obvious decision,” said Anne-Marie Irwin, Rook Irwin Sweeney partner, a British law firm that specializes in public law and human rights that is also participating in the test.
Both were optimistic that their business could maintain or even increase their production. Still, they found that the transition to a shorter work week requires some rethinking in the office.
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“Fresh minds for longer”
About two weeks after the current experiment began, which began in November, Kimber began his work day at his home office after a day off in the middle of the week. He checked his messages, read a customer specification, and talked to a customer while his rescued two gamns rested near him.
“It’s great to go back on that first day,” he said, adding that he realized that he felt less pressure to make the most of his weekends because of the extra day off. “I am more in the state of spirit of work on my working days.”
To prepare for the test, Brandpipe, which is totally remote, has passed six weeks of workshops organized by 4 Day Week Campaign to help solve logistics. The company collectively decided on a flexible arrangement where employees take different days off to ensure that customers are served during the week. Most companies on the pilot are giving employees an extra day off each week, while some have opted for a day off every two weeks.
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Everyone at Brandpipe participates in a weekly team meeting, and key tasks have “substitutes” so that one employee can deal with them if another is off, Slaugter said. The company sent emails to customers explaining their participation in the pilot, he said, and assured them that this would not cause interruptions.
“What we are trying to achieve here is to ensure that we have cooler minds longer,” he said. “Because that’s when we do our best work.”
Since the test started, Kimber said he was more involved in several of the company’s projects. “It’s something that four -day work week can give us a little more preparation: this idea that you have to go through when people are out,” he said.
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But logistics requires a lot of communication, which the team discussed at a November meeting. One person remembered his colleagues that he would be off on Friday. Slaughter and his business partner realized that they had little overlap because of the days off. This month, they changed to a different schedule.
Across the city, Rook Irwin Sweeney workers were also discussing the logistics at their team meeting on Thursday. Since April, the company has chosen to give its employees every Monday off, scaling the team to ensure half of its employees were still working. The arrangement is flexible if someone prefers another day because of court hearings or other deadlines.
The company also installed other measures, along with the day off, to help with productivity. The meetings have a tight schedule, and two blocks of time during the day are defined as hours of focus, where everyone is offline and the messages stop. “That’s when we put our heads down and work and concentrate,” said Irwin.
She said she wanted the company to challenge a culture in the legal industry that values long hours, stress and exhaustion. “We just want to reverse this narrative,” she said. “It’s not something to be proud of, it’s a cause of concern.”
The future of the 4 -day week
After the first test, from June to December 2022, 70% of the nearly 3,000 employees said they had a decrease in stress and exhaustion, while companies reported no negative impact on their revenue, according to a report by the program organizers.
After the current test, the campaign is planning to present the results to British officers, who signaled interest in reforming labor laws to British workers.
“We want to see the four -day week becoming the normal way to work in this country by the end of this decade,” said Joe Ryle, director of 4 Day Week Campaign.
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