Is a 4 Day Working Week the Way of The Future?

Let me start by saying that since returning to work after the birth of my third child last year, I have been working a 4 day week and I love it! For me, it’s not just the work side of things, it’s having more time to get stuff done on the weekends that is the massive bonus. So I was very interested when I read this article this morning about a company in New Zealand who has trialled a 4 day week with 240 office staff.

Feedback is that the staff are happier, more work is getting done and people are working together more cohesively than when they were working 5 days a week. This is because they HAVE to be more organised, focused, productive and results driven. Apparently, most of us are only actually productive 3 hours a day (don’t tell my boss this one, he would say ‘I told you so!’)

The trial has been a success and the company is looking at rolling it out as a permanent arrangement in their business. And just in case you are wondering – the people get paid for 5 days work but only work 4!

In a world where companies are struggling to find a point of difference to attract staff, this could be a winning idea! Who doesn’t want to get paid a full week’s wages for working 4 days?!