The concept of a four-day work week has gained traction in the UK, but how feasible is it in other markets? US-based company Poll Everywhere decided to trial a shorter working week, with some interesting results, writes Robert Graham.
The four-day work week has been a trending topic, partly because of a six-month trial involving 72 companies. The experiment has seen some interesting findings: of the companies that responded to a three-month check in survey, 86% said they were likely to very likely to continue utilising the four-day work week model.
These early results were compelling, but the Poll Everywhere team decided to figure out if this model is truly achievable, and what it would take for a US-based company like us to get there.
We introduced a four-day work week in the form of ‘Summer Fridays’. There were some bumps in the process, but overall it was quite successful. We gathered feedback from company-wide surveys, statistical analyses, and employee discussions to gain insight into what worked, what did not work, and what needed to be addressed.
As the Covid-19 pandemic radically changed work environments and introduced new ways of working, employee mental health and experiences were negatively impacted. We saw this shift and wanted to ensure we were doing everything possible to improve employee wellbeing. A supportive work environment produces not only happier employees but is also shown to increase employee productivity. This is a win for both employees and employers, and this was a major factor in our decision to move forward with a trial.
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We saw a huge improvement in overall employee wellbeing. American culture emphasises the idea of working harder than everyone else to move forward, but it is key for employees to build a life with meaning outside of work as well as in it.
Setting up our four-day week trial
Setting up the eight-week trial, which took place in June and July 2022, began with detailed planning to ensure it went smoothly.
We prepared customers and teams for the shift and made sure that everyone was on the same page. The Poll Everywhere leadership team clearly defined the expectation that all employees would work 32 hours a week across four days.
To guarantee that customers felt supported, our customer support team had different day-off rotations. The team staggered staff across Monday and Friday so that a team member was always available for customers while always benefiting from the 3-day weekend. Customer-facing teams were one of our primary worries, however everything worked smoothly.
Four-day week lessons
The benefits that employees reported were enlightening. Many said they felt more energised and creative following a longer weekend. Not only was there an overall trend of improved mental health, but many employees also felt able to complete their weekly workloads in the four days. Giving our employees one day a week to pursue their passions or explore new activities, or even just to rest, curved the continuing trend we were seeing of declining mental health. In fact, the four-day work week helped to quell burnout.
We gained detailed insights from surveys, analyses, and discussions with team members. Many of the challenges we found could be remedied with additional planning and more training, though we estimate that we lost 10-15% of productivity throughout the trial. We plan to attempt to lower this number with training, culture, and practice. Managers and executives felt as though the week was more intense with one less day, although they said having one additional day off per week brought them back into the work mindset with more creativity and feeling more refreshed.
Many of the challenges we found could be remedied with additional planning and more training, though we estimate that we lost 10-15% of productivity throughout the trial.”
The most significant insight focused on days off due to holidays. When the four-day work week was shortened to three days, stress and anxiety increased. The survey showed when both a Monday and a Friday were taken off there was too much pressure on employees and we saw a huge reduction in productivity, as well as a significant increase in stress. As a result, Poll Everywhere’s plan is to shift the company calendar in summer 2023 to ensure there are no three-day work weeks, by utilising the holiday as the day-off for that week.
We expected the biggest benefits to be for the engineering department, but they ultimately struggled with the reduced meeting structure and communication overhead. Time delays in priorities and workload meant that projects for the engineering team wound up being pushed and had a substantial impact on productivity.
The future of the four-day week
As we increase the four-day work week experiment from eight to 12 weeks in summer 2023, we will focus on some solutions to the challenges we observed throughout this year’s trial. Poll Everywhere plans to increase planning for all communications, projects, and deadlines, as well as work with the teams that struggled the most to understand where they could be supported.
We will also encourage managers to set an example by not working on days off. If managers or executives are working on off-days, other employees might also feel an obligation to be online.
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Poll Everywhere’s plan for next summer is to do what we can to make the four-day work week more beneficial to both employees and the company itself. This first experiment was a success, but with the knowledge we obtained this year, we anticipate that the following year will hold more promise for both the company and the employees.
