Written by Jane Hunt, PR expert, public speaker, and co-founder of JBH – The Digital PR Agency
And while the principle of the 100:80:100 model may seem extremely tempting to the millions hoping to shorten their working week without a reduction in pay, I truly believe that a 4.5 day working week offers the most accommodating and realistic compromise for both business owners and employees alike.
It’s certainly been the perfect fit for my team here at JBH for the past 4 years.
Long before the pandemic began, and when the concept of a four day working week was nothing but a fantasy for most, we decided to implement an agency-wide early finish on Friday as a perk that we knew would be well received across all 30+ full-time members of staff.
I – along with my two business partners – have years of agency experience from previous roles, and we knew only too well how unproductive Friday afternoons could be in a traditional setting.
Many senior staff members are likely to clock off by 3pm anyway, so we thought, ‘why not give all our hard-working employees – as well as ourselves – the opportunity to take a longer break and relax over an extended weekend, then start the next week refreshed and raring to go?’
It’s not hard to see the benefits to our employees of a permanent 4.5 day working week. As well as being able to travel away for long weekends (and avoid the dreaded Friday evening motorway traffic), they can also use those extra 5 hours a week to focus on life admin before making the most of their weekends, enjoy more quality time with their families and young children, or even dedicate the time to pursuing their own hobbies, interests and passions outside of the agency.
But don’t just take my word for it.
Below are just a few comments I’ve gathered from different members of the JBH team explaining how the introduction of our 4.5 day week has benefited their work/life balance over the past four years:
Far from compromising the output of the agency, we have in fact found that our half day Friday rule has hugely boosted the productivity, results, and the general mood levels of our staff. All are much more motivated to hit their deadlines and complete any outstanding tasks before clocking off on Friday lunchtimes, and ultimately are much happier in their roles knowing they have a guaranteed 2.5 day weekend, 52 weeks a year.
We’ve certainly noticed that the lure of a 4.5 day working week has helped us to attract and secure better talent when we’ve been recruiting for roles, and as an agency we’ve also found that our clients are much more comfortable with the concept of a 4.5 day routine rather than not being able to contact us for an entire day every week.
Ultimately, we are all too aware in the current climate of the importance of nurturing and supporting our employees’ mental health and general wellbeing, and we take our responsibilities in that area extremely seriously.
Too much focus on work and ‘the grind’ is detrimental to the majority of individuals, especially in an industry as creative as ours, so anything we can do to avoid burnout and negative workplace experiences among our ever-growing team is 100% worth it.
Luckily the 4.5 day week seems to be doing just that!
About the authorJane is a public speaker, PR expert and the co-founder of the award-winning, JBH – The Digital PR Agency in Manchester, UK. With over 10 years experience in content marketing and digital PR, Jane knows how to maximise team performance to consistently deliver results, even in challenging times.
