In New Zealand, a company reduced the number of weekly workdays from 5 to 4. As a result, the productivity of employees and their commitment to the company increased and their stress decreased.
A company in New Zealand is doing a new experiment since spring. Employees come to work for 4 days instead of 5 days a week, but they are getting their salaries. The near-term, 8-week experiment shows that this method works: The work-life balance of employees rose to 78 percent from 54 percent, stress was reduced and untried hours did not reduce work performance. On the contrary, even a small improvement was observed.
The CEO of Perpetual Guardian was inspired by an investigation that showed that an average British employee was only 2.5 hours per day productive. CEO Andrew Barnes says if you allow people one day to do things that prevent you from doing business, perhaps you think that productivity increases in the days they are working in the office.
Barnes, asking his employees to brainstorm on how to keep productivity at the same level with one day's missing, stresses that one day the idea of extra vacation reveals the creativity of employees: "There are some minor disruptions in the company, but nobody is willing to divide it. Now all these minor disruptions have been identified or completely resolved. "
Employees developed creative methods
Employees spend less time at meetings. She uses social media less often. They even started communicating with some signs. For example, if there is a red flag in a small pot next to the computer, it means that the employee is busy and should not be disturbed. There is less noise and distraction because there are fewer people in the office.
Jarrod Harr, Professor of Human Resource Management at Auckland University of Technology, commenting on the topic, conducted a survey with employees before and after the experiment. A second researcher, Helen Delaney, conducted a qualitative research on the company.
Job satisfaction increased before the experiment, although it was quite high. There was also an increase in overall life satisfaction. Job stress decreased while job stress decreased, from 38 percent to 45 percent. Employee loyalty has increased and employer commitment has increased from 68 percent to 88 percent. They stated that they found their work more inspiring, that they had more confidence in management and felt stronger in their jobs.
Laws need to change
The company now wants to implement this change entirely, but according to New Zealand law, employees earn a holiday based on the duration of their office. So Barnes is now meeting lawmakers to change the law.
Barnes believes this method should be applied by other companies. Problems of mental health based on strese are quite common. This experiment showed that less work reduced stress. "When a newborn woman wants to spend less time at work, 20 percent less salary is offered. Why? This situation is related to productivity. Negotiate on productivity. It does not matter how many hours you work, "he says.
If more companies apply this method, more impact can be created. "If 20 percent of the vehicles are not on the road, then the pollution rate will decrease and the traffic intensity will decrease," Barnes says, because of improvements in artificial intelligence, workers need to be retrained to lose their jobs. This practice gives them the opportunity to improve themselves.
First you need to convince the management team
CEOs who want to follow this method need the plan, says the CEO, employees must have the power to do their jobs with new ways: "Management teams are usually programmed to think that they have to spend 5 days at work."
Harr, Professor of Human Resources, says working 4 days a week will be very difficult for people who are already working too hard. "If you're already doing a job that two people have to do, it will be impossible to do all of that in 4 days," he said.