Recently, as part of our new benefits package at Brilliant we’ve re-worked our week to be half a day shorter, giving us all 10% of our week back and and extra 25% on our weekends!
The thinking behind this shift came off the back of a lot of trials and research that have been happening in our post-covid world that have tried and tested the effectiveness of changing the 8 hour-per-day, 5-days-per-week working model.
THE BENEFITS OUTWEIGH THE POSSIBLE DOWNSIDES
If we work fewer hours, then won’t we finish less work, and cause the companies’ productivity to suffer?
In deciding to step away from the ‘normal’ working pattern, it was established that all of the benefits – for employees and the company alike – outweigh any falling points.
Happier, healthier and more well-rested people are likely to be more productive and proactive in their approach to their work. This means better creativity, better overall work satisfaction and a better output of work from a fully freshed and rested team.
“Wellbeing has always been a core consideration at Brilliant and with the learning from covid and hybrid working in full flow, with our team able to work remotely if they feel it will benefit them that day, we wanted to look to the future and create a working environment that is both flexible and benefits our team’s overall wellbeing in the long term. Giving time back to our whole team for them to be able to spend however they wish for no reduced paid was an option we wanted to explore.”
– Laurra, founder
HOW IT WORKS AT BRILLIANT
As of April, we work 4.5 days. A slightly later Monday start and a slightly earlier finish on a Friday. That’s 10% less working hours, and 25% more weekend!
“When we looked at the studies of shifting to a 4 day working week this simply didn’t work for our business, neither for maintaining the high level of service we provide our clients and also to balance the volume of work and capacity we manage through the team, but we knew we wanted to look for an alternative solution that would bring similar benefits.”
– Mike, MD
The decision to move to a 4.5 day week was based on considerations over factors including:
- How time was spent by the whole team throughout the week
- What times of day and days were the most efficient
- When were clients most and least active
- What times/days did team value additional flexibility and book the most time off.
From this we were able to see that Monday mornings and Friday afternoons were the least productive, clients least active, and were the days most often booked off.
Our team are already reaping the reward of having extra free-time:
Andy will be using the early Friday finish “to drive somewhere scenic in his camper van, and enjoy a full weekend away.”
Peg said “It would be lovely to use it for getting up early and do yoga and exercise on Monday morning”
And Tom had a similar idea of having the time to “jog down the river” before starting the work week.
Shay and Jonny both agreed that it will give them more time to socialise, relax and unwind, and to be able to come into work on Monday feeling refreshed.
From all of this we could see that the extra working time at either end of the week could essentially be stripped out with no negative impact to clients and multiple upside to team and agency.
Essentially, we’ll be able to get just as much work done, get the same salary, but in a shorter space of time. What a Brilliant way to work!