A Hove business which took part in the world’s biggest trial of a four-day working week says it has “worked across the board” for them.
5 Squirrels, a Brighton-based skincare company, was one of 61 companies taking part in the trial, the vast majority of which say they will continue.
Gary Conroy, the firm’s chief executive, told the PA news agency the move – in which staff were expected to do as much work in shorter hours for the same pay – significantly increased productivity across the team.
He said: “We’re trying to run a profitable, productive company and we believe that one of the ways of doing that is by having higher employee engagement and happier members of staff who are not burnt out the whole time and have a good quality of life outside work.
“We can get a lot more done in less time, meaning that we are then free to have more time off.”
Mr Conroy said the company, based in Conway Street, introduced “deep work” time to help with productivity, where staff dedicate two-hour periods to work without emails or messages to distract them.
It also cut meetings back to a bare minimum, and ensured any that do get scheduled were limited to 30 minutes and at certain time periods.
He said: “What we found actually was that projects didn’t take nearly as long as we thought they would, because it was the disruption and distraction that was stretching out the length of time the project would take.”
Mr Conroy said 5 Squirrels, which has a total of 15 employees, would be keeping to its four-day working week going forward.
He said: “Our productivity is up, our profitability is up, our sales are up, our output is up, you know, in less time.
“So why would you go back to dragging it out into another day? It’s really counterintuitive.”
Alistair Dickson, a graphic designer company, had a young baby when the firm decided to take part in the pilot.
He told PA: “Having one less day at work is obviously going to be quite popular. But for me personally it was a good time in my life being that we had just had a baby.
“It meant I could spend more time at home helping my wife with the baby rather than constantly working.”
He said it is “quite rewarding” to know you can “still be productive but have that extra day off”.
The findings of the pilot scheme were presented to MPs on Tuesday as campaigners urge lawmakers to give every British worker a 32-hour working week.
I’ve been reading quite a few studies about this, including the European trials, and it all appears to be showing the same positive outcome. I’m glad the conversation is moving forward.