Our 4.5 day working week
I remember vividly my first day in a new research job, talking about how I left teaching to find a career with more work life balance. Laughter followed, and I soon realised it was because market research was not exactly known for promoting a work life balance. I soon discovered that with elements like evening fieldwork, juggling multiple projects simultaneously and the different facets of brain energy needed to do the job well when, for example, talking to participants, clients, analysing or report writing – work could easily take over. It is a fascinating, but undeniably intensive at times world.
This is why I was even more overjoyed when Humankind Research announced a 4.5 day week for everyone, starting in June 2022. With the option to take every other Friday off or work a half day every Friday, it felt like a bold and genuine commitment to employee wellbeing and our people first ethos which aims to stretch across everything we do.
4 months into this way of working and with full understanding that there would be a period of adjustment, we thought it would be good to explore how different people have found it:
"At first I was apprehensive about how I was going to fit my work into 4.5 days but it’s been a really smooth transition. I realise I get just the same amount of work done, but in a much more efficient way! And I really appreciate the flexibility of being able to take every other Friday off – the weekend feels so much longer and I come to work feeling much more refreshed and energised, which in turn helps me to be productive."
“There was initially a bit of an adjustment to getting the workload right as we transitioned into the 4.5 day week during a busy period, but as we worked out team working patterns and project flows to accommodate it, it’s been brilliant! I’ve really appreciated the extra time to get ‘me stuff’ done and have more headspace for non-work things.”
“When I tell people that I get every other Friday off work without reduction in pay, they are shocked! And immediately ask if there are any vacancies haha…I was instantly pleased when I heard about the 4.5 day work week as it felt like it really supported what I was striving for in life – balance. With a bit more breathing space I’ve taken up swimming lessons every Friday and tend to use my Friday off for all the life admin bits so the rest of the weekend feels properly mine. Work wise, I’ve found that with a bit of organisation, forward planning and efficiency, it’s smooth sailing.”
And when the Humankind founders were asked why they implemented it, here’s what they said:
"Essentially it is about employee wellbeing – we talk a lot about being a people-first company, but felt like to truly live that it is important to give people in the company more time to pursue their lives and interests outside of work. In research particularly, where we often need to do fieldwork in the evenings, that protected time feels particularly important. We want everyone to be as healthy, happy and content as possible. And of course there is a growing body of evidence that shorter working weeks increase productivity, but that is a happy extra benefit, not the core driver!"
There’s been rising conversation around the idea of a 4-day week, especially after the launch of a UK trial this year. It seems it could still be many years before something like this is implemented at scale, but hopefully this provides some insight into how a slightly shortened week has worked in practice for us.
Written by Joanne Oguntimehin, Project Director at Humankind Research