Channel outfit Highgate IT has made its four-day working week trial permanent.
The company trialled the idea in April and has decided to make it a permanent feature after a successful six months.
IT found that service levels remained consistent, productivity increased and targets were hit or over-achieved.
Highgate managing director Stuart Marginson said that companies needed to find a balance between the wellbeing of employees and the success.
“We wanted to support our employees and ensure the right resource was available across the business. By not doing so, we risked overloading our employees, which could hurt their well-being and undo the positives that the four-day week brings.
“It was important that our customers continued to receive the same level of service they are used to, and that the business was operating at its full capacity, all day, Monday to Friday.”
The firm has been working to the 100:80:100 model, with it committing to paying staff 100 percent for 80 percent of their time in return for 100 percent productivity. It remained operating five days a week and saw productivity remain high, recording a record sales month in May, and received positive feedback from staff.
Highgate worked with Ultimate Resilience, a team of clinical psychologists, during the trial to track the impact of the four-day week on employee wellbeing and experience. Staff completed surveys at the start and the end of the trial that covered work-life experience, emotional exhaustion, and measures of wellbeing and resilience.
At the end of the trial, workers said how they felt the four-day working week had affected their lives, both professionally and personally, and the results showed that happiness had increased, along with time spent with family and on hobbies and activities, and that levels of emotional exhaustion had decreased.
