Management

BBC Scotland recently published an article discussing the four-day work week.

It’s been really interesting seeing the impact of COVID on how we work and how we perceive working; I’ve seen many companies around us in Sheffield ditch expensive office space to shift to remote working full-time, but I wonder how popular a four hour work week will be?

Is this something you’d be willing to implement as a manager?

Would you rather work for a company that makes the move?

For the worker, it’s shown to increase productivity up to 20%, enable a better work-life balance, and improve employee-employer relationships.

For the employer, it presents a complicated decision.

It does, however, bring up an important conversation: is it time to ditch that age old idea that more time sat at the desk directly correlates to more, or better, work?

Douglas Fraser notes that companies interested in this will also probably be companies that already care about creating a good working culture; promoting autonomy, flexibility, trust, space for creativity, and high-quality management.

The combination of which helps people feel valued and productive. There’s many strings to the bow.

So, whilst it may drive incredible results for those already focused on the wellbeing of their employees, we think it’s worth remembering that cutting hours won’t immediately make managers better at their jobs, or employees better at theirs.

For some, it will likely be a great change to implement; but we think there’s danger ahead if it’s applied as a “quick fix” for productivity with no attention given to the culture as a whole…