Blog Spot with Sheridan Rose Shaw

The Four Day Work Week

I’ve worked in the industry for 17 years and have missed many birthdays, milestones, weddings, and celebrations. It was just the ‘norm’. “Sorry, I work Saturdays”.

Now, it’s been over a year since MAMAWEST took the plunge by ‘trialling’ not working weekends. It turned out to be the trial that would never end!

We were more in demand than ever before, booked to our eyeballs with a heavy AF waitlist and cancellations would be snapped in 30 seconds FLAT.

It was TIME to be bold and trust the desire to not work weekends for not just me, my family but for my team and theirs. Yes, Saturday is deemed the biggest day of trade, but truth is, so was every other. We also found some clients expressing guilt for being away from their families or felt really rushed during the service due to other commitments.

At first? The idea of three late nights and jamming 38 hours into 4 days terrified me more than losing revenue. Though once we adjusted it would become the new normal and our salon culture would be like never before.

Our revenue has double and so has our team due to desirability of hours and work life balance.

We opened our Tuesday and Wednesday nights and clients love being able to get their hair done earlier in the week when there’s no social commitments. And what parent doesn’t love skipping a bedtime every now and again?

I think we as business owners forget that we started a business to have power over making decisions that benefit us on a deep level. It feels good to be at my son’s curriculum activates and to finally be enjoying the art of life, like the rest of the world. Change is scary AF but everything good has happened on the other side of fear.

Things to note if you are thinking about a new way to live in the workplace:

From a HR perspective vs. the award, it is essential to draw up new contracts to demonstrate your team are deemed better off by working the 4 and getting 3 days off in a row.

This way of life also promotes a work-life balance to our community and clients that we see regularly booking in on their workdays and opting for time off.

If you’re booked out months in advance and have a demand, you really are in the position to make this work for you and your team. #noregrets

Try ‘trialling’ for three months. Compare revenue by the last quarter. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

There are pros and cons to everything, and I’d be lying if I said this has worked for every single client, but the truth is we’re still booked out months in advance, my team are happier than ever before and so is the bank balance!