On
Wednesdays, while most of her friends are at work, Tiffany Schrauwen is on the
tennis court, practising her backhand. The Melbourne project manager has a lesson
all to herself at 09:00.
Schrauwen
isn’t slacking off. For nearly a year, digital marketing agency Versa – where
she works – has shut down on Wednesdays, giving staff a four-day week at five
days’ pay.
Employees
at the company do a standard-length day on Mondays and Tuesdays, then return
for another two on Thursday and Friday. No meetings are scheduled for
Wednesdays – however, if a client has urgent work that needs doing, workers
will pick up the phone.
When
Schrauwen first was told of the plan, she was excited, then worried about how
it would work; as project manager, she was the main contact for both staff and
clients.
But Versa
staff reorganized their work patterns to become more efficient. She’ll arrange
to have certain tasks completed by the midweek break, meetings are more focused
and idle chatter less appealing. Every two weeks the company also reviews what
has worked and what hasn’t. “Everyone wants it to work because we love
having the flexibility,” says Schrauwen. “If I want to keep that Wednesday off,
I prep my week better.”
The policy
was implemented in July last year. Since then, revenue at the Australian
company has increased by 46%, and profits nearly tripled, says its CEO and
founder Kath Blackham, who is reluctant
to credit the four day week with the entirety of the performance. “We win work
because we’re known for having great work,” she says, but adds the fact the
agency has very low turnover and consistent teams working on briefs can be
hugely appealing for potential business partners.
It is
vindication for Blackham, who founded
the company with a toddler and baby in tow, determined to head a
high-performing enterprise that respected the need for flexibility.
“What I set
out to prove was that in one of the most unlikely industries – a service-based
industry known for young people working super long hours – it can work if you
come up with something innovative,” says Blackham.
A mid-week
break lets staff go to the gym, get on top of house work, look after young
children, schedule appointments, work on their start-up or just watch Netflix.
Sometimes, they’ll catch up on work. Sick days are down, staff satisfaction is
up, says Blackham. “You get that Monday feeling a couple of times a week.”
That Monday
feeling of productivity was critical to Blackham’s decision to break the week
into two “mini-weeks”, rather than creating a long weekend, which she feared
may encourage her predominantly young staff to “have an even bigger weekend”.
She found that letting staff choose their own days off meant it was
often unclear to other employees or clients when that staff member was
available, and that hit productivity.
The
five-day week is not an ancient phenomenon. Car manufacturer Henry Ford was
pioneering in giving workers the weekend off in 1926, theorizing it would make
them more productive.
Professor
Rae Cooper, a gender and employment relations academic at the University of
Sydney, says the four-day week goes to address another key issue: the loss of
highly-skilled women from the workforce. “The average age of the first birth in
Australia is now in the early 30s. That’s when we hit our straps in terms of
career development, earnings jumping up and really becoming very productive
employees. That’s really when we’re losing women from the workforce because
we’re not giving them choices to be both mothers and productive workers,” she
says.
And this is
something Versa’s Blackham is desperate to change. She wants to ensure her
daughter can pursue both career and family life.
“No one
should have to fight for flexibility,” she says.
From BBC (edited)
