It’s no secret that I am a fan of flexible working, but it seems that the 4 day week method is picking up in popularity.
It is already in use in the Netherlands and seems to be hugely successful.
I said my piece in the HR Grapevine last month, about whether or not this method could work in the UK, which you can read here.
My main points were that I am a great believer in saying, “you only have one life, so don’t spend it all at work”. We must learn to work smarter, not harder, and as a society, we really need to make time to spend with our families.
To be honest it feels like we just aren’t keeping up with the times. There are so many advancements in technology that allow more flexible working than we ever dreamed possible, and a lot of it is free!
Some might feel that it is simply impossible because of the nature of their business, for example a call center or warehouse. Surely you can’t just shut for one day a week? But who says that everyone needs to take the same day off?
Some might feel that if people are only working 4 days a week, surely their employees won’t be producing as much work? Well, I’m sorry to tell you but the UKs productivity is the worst it has ever been. Osborne fails to come up with a solution and the forecasts were grim in the recent 2016 budget. Read my post about that here.
The fact is that France could easily do a four day week and still out do us on productivity…
We need to wake up and make the connection between employees happiness and employees productivity and a day off to spend with their families or to do what they enjoy would definitely make them happy and come back to work refreshed.
Trying to achieve high levels of productivity all the time leads to what I call employee burnout.
Stephanie Vozza wrote in her Fastcompany article that, “According to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management, 43% of companies offer four-day workweeks to some employees, and 10% make it available to all or most employees. The reason? It positively impacts the bottomline. “Since we implemented flexible workweeks in 2008, all the metrics a CEO cares about have gone in the right direction,” says Delta Emerson, president of global shared services for the tax services firm Ryan. The company turnover rate dropped from 30% to 11%, revenue and profits almost doubled, client satisfaction scores reached an all-time high, and the firm has received multiple “best place to work” awards.”
Read the full article here.
Managing the performance of remote workers doesn’t have to be any harder than those individuals who are office based.
To find out how Reality HR could support you in creating a flexible working culture or your performance management, give us a call on 01256 328 428 or tell us when to call you:
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from Reality HR Limited http://www.realityhr.co.uk/blog/4-day-weeks-insane-idea/
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