Does the four day work day serve?

The financial services company Perpetual guardian, from New Zealand, makes an eight-week test in which 240 employees participated. They changed the work model, that is, the staff worked the same number of hours per week and with equal pay, with only one day off.. The results have been more than encouraging.

"The most important thing we've learned is that there are better ways to work and that the traditional 9 to 5 hour weekly schedule is not necessarily the most productive," he says. badured Mark Jephson, General Manager of Trust Companies, part of the group of companies owned by Perpetual Guardian, in statements that the site collects BBC World. Here, the improvements of the experience:

• In productivity. To begin with, employees were able to work five weeks out of four during these eight weeks, increasing productivity by 20%. In addition, they not only managed to do it, but "they could do it better," said Andrew Barnes, founder of Perpetual Guardian.
• Balance between work and private life. Employees reported a significant improvement from 54% to 78%. In particular, they have developed closer ties with their family, friends and old hobbies.
• Decrease of stress Levels went from 45% to 38%. In addition, many workers reported feeling greater intellectual stimulation and creativity, and feeling more valued by the company for giving them more decision-making power over how to work.
• Greater employee commitment According to the works, it has increased by 40%, which the leaders have described as "surprising".

But between the negatives of the test are that not all employees are suitable for changeTherefore, when they were on leave, they were more tired than usual. It was then that they preferred to work the five days and keep a slower pace.

Recommendations to apply the four-day work week

• Give workers enough time to think about how they can work differently and encourage them to come up with their own productivity measures.
• Start with a test and hire external consultants to conduct qualitative and quantitative badessments of the process.
• Set clear business goals for individuals and teams.
• Make it clear that the purpose of the initiative is to improve things, not only in the context of the test, but also with respect to the social life of employees.