We recently started to experiment at Nuula with an optional 4-day work week.
We started by asking ourselves ... what if people didn't have to commute an hour a day ... how could we re-purpose that time to start with, and what might they be able to accomplish ... we also figured that a zoom/pandemic fatigue was a real issue, and we wanted to give people recharge time.
We hoped that when people know they had less time for work, they would become more intentional. They might also happier. They might also be more creative.
We realized that we needed to be deliberate and thoughtful about this as an organization ... we needed to force ourselves to reduce the typical overhead that seeps into traditional weeks. Cut the fat of unnecessary meetings …
The test started with our Technology team, and as is typical with all things Nuula, we set up a way to review outcomes in a disciplined way, through a blend of qualitative and quantitative lenses.
At this stage, about 80% of our Tech team takes advantage of the program, and while we're not yet ready to make a permanent decision one way or the other, initial feedback (qualitative) and productivity scores (quantitative) are both very encouraging so far. A sneak preview on the quant side is that our story point output is as good, if not better across 4 days as opposed to 5.
I'll update you more on our learnings over the next few weeks, but I think this option is going to be here to stay. We are certainly seeing happier and more productive team members.
In the mean time, the following article outlines some issues/considerations/approaches. Worth a read.
Great article on Bloomberg Businessweek