MINNEAPOLIS — A recent four-day workweek pilot program that just wrapped up in the U.K. was impressive in both its scope and its simplicity.
"The only limitation was that companies had to offer 100% pay, and 80% in terms of hours," said Chris Farrell, senior economics contributor for MPR News and Marketplace. "And the key is, can you maintain productivity? If you can't maintain productivity, then you're just simply going to cut the pay."
An analysis of the six-month pilot found that the vast majority of the 2,900 workers held up their end of the bargain. Despite the expectation of maintaining productivity in less time, 96% of employees say they prefer sticking with the four-day schedule.
Speaking of schedules, 61 companies of many different sizes, tested different four-day week combinations. While some opted for tacking Fridays off for all, others chose to stagger schedules and offer more flexibility.
No matter what they chose, 92% of those employers say they plan to stick with the four-day weeks. There are several reasons why both employees and employers agreed on shorter weeks. Farrell says companies see a benefit in attracting and keeping staff, while employees reported feeling a 71% decrease in burnout.
"This actually is healthy for the bottom line, this actually is healthy for society, it's healthy for your employees," Farrell said. "At least in these experiments, the evidence that we have is that employees do their job."
That's no surprise to at least one local employer.
"I believe that, to some extent, HR is PR," said Darin Lynch, founder and CEO of Irish Titan, a tech company that builds and maintains e-commerce websites for brands like the Minnesota Wild and Life Time Fitness.
Like many tech companies, Lynch says Irish Titan has offered hybrid schedules, which only require employees to come to the office twice a week. He says they also offer unlimited PTO as long as employees meet goals and expectations. That hasn't been a problem. In fact, he says he worries more about the other end of the spectrum.
"For every incidence of someone abusing - for lack of a better way to put it - an open PTO policy, we'd have 99 people not taking as much time as they really should remain some refreshed mentality," Lynch said.
With that in mind, Lynch spent two years building a new management and cross-training structure to roll out a new companywide PTO mandate. Every single employee, including himself, is now required to take two weeks of uninterrupted PTO every year.
"Get out of here, go do a staycation if you want, go to Iceland if you want," Lynch said. "Do whatever you need to do for your own well-being so you can come back with a mentally refreshed head."
Because they have fewer than 50 employees, Lynch said that the PTO policy has to be staggered within departments, but he says it's been a welcome challenge for both employees and for the company itself.
"We should be able to live without any given employee for two weeks," Lynch said.
But after spending two years trying to adjust his internal culture, Lunch says he believes it will take even longer for a company like his to move to a true four-day week. That's because of the client expectations that come with working in the tech industry.
"I think it's worth considering," he said. "I just don't know how much of a sea change would need to happen across enough businesses to reach critical mass, where then it works."
Farrell agrees that it could take some time, though he does believe that sea change is coming.
"I have a sense that we're not going to run out and embrace it, this is the United States and social change happens very slowly here," Farrell said. "There's a lot of reasonable skepticism there, but what the pilot programs are doing is giving some data, giving some evidence. So far, what the evidence seems to be supporting is that, as an organization, you're healthier and you're still able to do the job that your organization is designed to do."
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