Why choose a nine-day fortnight over a four-day week or other flexible working arrangement? Sam Franklin discusses why trialling this policy has worked for his start-up company, and what other organisations should consider.
Five-day weeks are no longer a thing at Otta. Since January 2023, we have been taking every other Friday off, with no compressed hours or reduced pay.
For me and my co-founders, Xav and Theo, the nine-day fortnight trial started because we wanted to challenge traditional mindsets and embrace new approaches to wellbeing. The one word that consistently popped up in staff feedback was ‘flexibility’, and we saw the trial as not only a way to attract and retain the best talent, but to change the way we support our people.
Shorter working week
Four-day week trial results show 92% will continue policy
As a job search platform, we have seen the demand for flexible working increase over the last four years, with 54% of candidates now considering flexibility and wellbeing their number one priority when it comes to looking for their next role.
A century ago we were doing six-day weeks with no flexibility whatsoever, but over time we have shifted to a five-day work week with more opportunity to shift our hours around or work from home.
Then, the pandemic caused a seismic shift in how businesses approach flexible working. Many countries, including Spain and Portugal, are now trialling a four-day work week, with 90% of businesses in the UK pilot opting to keep the arrangement in place.
Why a nine-day fortnight?
We first implemented the trial, the most common question we got asked was: “why didn’t you make the full leap to a four-day work week?”
The answer is simple: we want to lead the conversation around how businesses can explore different flexible working models which suited their individual needs. We are not saying that the nine-day fortnight is any less revolutionary or any more effective than the four-day work week. Instead, we believe that any business implementing a flexible working policy needs to adopt arrangements that balance the needs of their employees with their own business goals.
For many businesses, the four-day work week can be a hard shift to make. Taking one day per week off reduces working hours across the business by 20%. Startups in particular may struggle to implement such a model straight away as it could interfere with their objectives.
However, implementing a nine-day fortnight offers an efficient alternative. By only reducing the company’s working hours by 10%, it allows businesses to take a more achievable step towards greater flexibility for their teams. At Otta, this has not only proven effective for productivity and morale, but it also has a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing.
Measuring success
As with any other trial, it is important to understand what success looks like. For us, the nine-day fortnight needed to meet two criteria; it must increase employee wellbeing, and we must not believe we’re worse-off in achieving our business objectives.
Before the trial, we asked our team if working at Otta had a positive impact on their life satisfaction, and 81% of survey respondents either agreed or strongly agreed. Five months into the trial, we asked if working a nine-day fortnight had a positive impact on their life satisfaction – 100% of respondents strongly agreed that it did.
An extra day every other week may not seem like much, but it’s an extra day spent with loved ones, exploring a new hobby or doing whatever you choose, all of which can help our employees’ mental and physical wellbeing.
For us, the nine-day fortnight needed to meet two criteria; it must increase employee wellbeing, and we must not believe we’re worse-off in achieving our business objectives.”
Whilst we found our first criteria for success easy to establish, it’s been harder to understand what we could have achieved if we were working 10 days rather than nine.
As a small business with four years of history, where each year has looked very different, it’s not practical to look back and compare with past years’ results. We’ve had to build confidence that we’ve been achieving enough as a company, even with nine-day fortnights.
While we are still gathering data around the success of the trial, it is clear that this extra day is already having a positive impact across the business.
Effective implementation
For founders and HR professionals looking to implement a shorter working week, there is no simple cheat sheet. Every company has its own unique needs, both from a business and employee perspective.
To effectively implement a nine-day fortnight or other flexible working arrangement, senior management needs to consider business and employee needs and set out transparent criteria for success. Trialling flexible arrangements before committing to their full implementation is a great way to learn about what practices suit them.
It may seem risky to offer a benefit as an experiment and then take it away. But in trying, you show to your workforce you’re willing to see the future differently.
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To maximise the chance of success, we shared with our team that we need them to help make the nine-day fortnight work. Businesses that choose to hold on to traditional beliefs will find themselves left behind in the race for productivity and talent.
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