Case study: Four-day working week

Alice Croucher, HRNZ’s HR Research Analyst, sat down with MSH Consulting’s Director Brian Yee to ask how the organisation transitioned to the fourday week, from the original decision to the outcomes it has seen as a result.

The ‘four-day workweek’ is a term that everyone in HR is becoming increasingly aware of. Headlines such as “Is the Four Day Work Week the Only Way Forward?” and “The Four Day Work Week is Here to Stay” are flooding our inboxes. But what does this mean? Are we clocking off for one extra day a week and hoping the work will just get done?

WHAT IS THE FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK?

The four-day week (4DW) has several different models, each responding to the needs of different companies. Staff may be split into teams or ‘bubbles’ who take different days off or work reduced hours over five days. The basic idea behind the 4DW is, as it sounds, to reduce the working week to four days a week for every staff member.

MSH Consulting implemented the ‘Fifth-day stoppage’ model for its 4DW. In this model, the company shuts down for one additional day per week, so all staff have the same day off. In their case, they chose Friday. It was essential to Brian Yee and the team that they were not still working 40 hours within those four days; instead, the hours they worked needed to be legitimately reduced.

Flexibility was still available. If any instances occurred where a staff member had to work on a Friday due to client needs, they were to take their additional day off during another day within that week.

It was essential to MSH that Friday was an actual weekend day and staff should not take on additional outside work within this weekend. The team emphasised this was a day to rest and to come back re-energised, not to be another workday.

The fundamental principle behind the week was to pay the staff 100 per cent of the salary, work 80 per cent of the time and achieve 100 per cent of the billings.

WHAT DROVE MSH CONSULTING TO TRIAL A 4DW?

Both internal and external factors drove MSH to trial the 4DW.

Internally, recruitment was becoming increasingly complex, and the team members being recruited needed help to perform in the manner that MSH wanted. Brian describes this as increased friction between the team’s desired ways of working and MSH’s.

Externally, research presented at the 2019 HRNZ conference demonstrated how trends, such as remote and hybrid work, as well as talent scarcity and burnout, were accelerating change in the world of work. Flexibility is becoming one of the highest priorities for workers after the COVID-19 pandemic, as shown in an American Workforce Index study. MSH wanted to respond to that information with action. Most significantly, the pilot study taken in the United Kingdom of the 4DW that 61 companies and around 2,900 workers undertook showed 92 per cent continued this four-day week after a six-month trial, with a further 4 per cent leaning towards continuing. This was exciting for MSH because it showed the 4DW could work for firms like them.

COMMUNICATION AND INITIAL REACTIONS

Effective communication is essential when introducing any significant organisational change. At MSH, the transition to a 4DW began with a transparent briefing to the team, outlining the rationale behind the decision and soliciting feedback. This started in April 2023.

The overwhelmingly positive response from employees underscored their enthusiasm and support for the trial period. This initial buy-in laid the foundation for a successful transition, fostering a sense of unity and shared purpose among team members.

In communicating the change, the directors of MSH emphasised:

We made it clear to the team that it wasn’t about cramming five-day work into four, but improving our productivity as a result of being more rested and energised from having an extra day off and finding innovative ways of being more efficient.

WHAT POLICIES OR TOOLS WERE IMPLEMENTED TO ENSURE THE SUCCESS OF THIS TRIAL?

Productivity and success were to stay at least the same despite the reduction in weekly hours; so, three things needed to change: planning needed to be improved, efficiency required improvement, and business processes needed to be streamlined.

One of their crucial processes is a proactive planning discussion held every Monday morning. These meetings review each ongoing job and clarify the workflow board for that job, providing clarity on the upcoming work for the weeks ahead. This ensures that any potential delays can be preempted well in advance.

In weeks with many client workshops, MSH found that there was reduced time to address other essential tasks like project management and all the behind-the-scenes work. To mitigate any problems that may arise from this, small breaks were planned throughout these days, resulting in more ‘white spaces’ in their diaries, freeing up time to include essential tasks between workshops rather than working longer hours.

Communication was regarded as essential in this process, with an emphasis that if people needed guidance they should ask and act quicker, reducing the need for rework and allowing the team to reclaim valuable time.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE IMPACT OF IMPLEMENTING A FOUR-DAY WEEK?

The benefits of wellbeing and work–life balance were described as ‘stark’. One staff member explained, “When we started to get really busy towards the end of the year, the longer weekend really helped to recharge and rest so you could hit the ground running the following week.”

The team has consistently reported significant positive effects of the trial on their wellbeing, stress, motivation, work–life balance and ability to do more in their personal lives. “The four-day week allows you to do the things you want to do on the weekend without feeling like you’re rushing! You can take the time to plan your weekend to maximise doing the things you enjoy whilst also feeling rested at the end of it,” says Brian.

Not only did staff feel more rested at the end of the week, but they had more ability to complete their life admin tasks. One employee says, “I have been able to use the Friday off to get all of the unavoidable personal tasks out of the way early, which greatly frees up the rest of my weekend so it can be spent doing the things I enjoy rather than admin.”

“It provides a sense of empowerment about what you can do with your own time.”

An important message to staff throughout this implementation of a 4DW was productivity. The policy states that productivity levels and performance expectations were to be maintained. If they were not, MSH may consider adjusting expectations or reverting to a five-day workweek. However, in the time it took for MSH to adopt the model and see the benefits in terms of productivity and wellbeing, Brian Yee exclaimed, “Why haven’t we been doing this all along?”.

ADVICE FROM BRIAN YEE FOR OTHER COMPANIES CONSIDERING ADOPTING A SIMILAR WORK SCHEDULE

“I would urge them to trial it, but not without the proper planning and consideration of the processes you will streamline to make it work. I also encourage them to think seriously about what is most important to your organisation and what is just ‘nice to have’. In many cases there is no time for the latter.

It is also important to ensure the trial is long enough to gain confidence that you can sustain the new ways of working and results you have seen before making a decision to go permanent. For us, the initial three-month trial was not sufficient to do so, and therefore we extended the trial another three months.

Do not expect it to be easy. The 4DW is not for the faint-hearted or a silver bullet for those who want to do less work. It requires a great deal of energy, commitment and focus for the four days you are at work, but you are rewarded at the end of the week.

There are also many intricate details that need to be thought through that are not always obvious. For example, you need to consider what happens to leave accruals and balance, what happens when there is a public holiday, what happens when someone chooses to do work on their day off, or if someone wants to change their day off. There is a range of scenarios that need careful thought, especially as employees rightly seek clarity about these details.”

As Brian Yee states, implementing the four-day workweek is not for the faint of heart. It requires intensive planning and tailoring to each specific workplace. However, the benefits are significant in looking at the positive impacts of staff wellbeing and productivity that occur within workplaces that have implemented such a model of work.

HOW DID MSH MEASURE SUCCESS?

MSH used the Balanced Scorecard approach for its reporting. This includes looking at four different perspectives.

• Ownership is the business ownersOne of the primary measures from the owner’s perspective was, of course, billings. They wanted to ensure their billings were still on track and achieving at least the same as if working for five days.

• Customer is the clientsFor the 4DW to work, their clients would have to be on board with the idea or at least be tolerant of what they were trying to do. To measure this, they captured client feedback towards the 4DW.

• Process is the way they do the workTo track whether their new processes were contributing to the success of the 4DW, they measured the percentage of jobs on which this new approach led to great outcomes.

• Learning and growth are their peopleThe 4DW is all about staff wellbeing, so measuring the team’s feedback on how the 4DW made them feel was necessary. The leadership team also wanted to measure the number of hours staff worked to ensure they weren’t squeezing 40 hours into four days.

Alice Croucher joined HRNZ in September 2023. As an HR Research Analyst, she specialises in gathering and evaluating research related to human resources practices and trends. Her role involves analysing qualitative and quantitative data (as well as case law and statutory changes) to provide insights and recommendations for optimising HR practices to our members. She is in her final year of her conjoint Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts with Honours majoring in sociology and social policy.