Is the four-day workweek the future of work?
Could this be the future of work? Photo: iStock
By Michelle Geraghty
As the clock signifies the end of another long work week, a collective wave of relief sweeps across offices around the country. Laptops are closed, desks are cleared and the hum of conversation about weekend plans fills the air.
The prospect of having two entire days to switch off, recharge and socialise with loved ones brings a sense of excitement. That ‘Friday Feeling’.
But there’s one thing that beats it: the prospect of having three entire days to switch off. And employees at Galway-based company ICE Group know all about it.
“Who doesn’t want more life outside work?” says Breen McGarry, HR Manager with ICE. “Having that additional time can mean anything from engaging in further education or volunteering to just spending time with Granny.
“For me personally, as a mother of three small children, having a three-day weekend has a massive impact on my life,” she says.
A win for Galway business
The concept of the four-day workweek isn’t a radical one for ICE Group, a recruitment, training and outsourced service provider, who pioneered the concept in Ireland in 2019.
“We wanted to be a world class organisation that inspired others, so we needed great things from our people,” says Margaret Cox, Director of ICE Group. “We decided to introduce this initiative to really make a difference in their work and home life.”
The results were noticeable. The company’s productivity level increased by 27 per cent after the initial implementation.
“Since then we have maintained or exceeded that productivity, and our profitability has increased as has revenue per employee,” says Margaret. “I believe this is due to our ability to be focused and efficient, because we have a three-day weekend every week.”
The future of work
And the data agrees. According to a new report, two thirds of people rated a ‘four-day workweek’ as the top offering that would attract them to a job.
According to the 2024 Future of Work Trends Report from Gartner, organisations are finding it more difficult to attract and retain employees due to a talent shortage.
Employers are evaluating whether shifting toward a condensed workweek will meet growing employee expectations for flexibility.
The report highlights nine trends they recommend employers should factor into workforce decisions over the next one to five years. Trend number three predicted the four-day workweek will “no longer be a radical concept”.
Evidence based
Joe O’Connor is the CEO and co-founder of Work Time Reduction, a consultancy firm helping customers make the transition to a four-day workweek since 2018.
“The evidence from recent global trials of the four-day workweek emphatically demonstrates the potential for organisations to leverage productivity and wellbeing as complementary forces through work time reduction,” he says.
Joe adds that in addition to boosting employee satisfaction, recruitment and retention, when designed properly, the four-day workweek acts as an operational excellence initiative in disguise.
“For many organisations, the shorter workweek is already here,” says Joe. “It’s just buried under the rubble of things like overlong and unnecessary meetings, distractions and interruptions, outdated processes and poor use of technology.
“By providing a framework and a powerful incentive to address these inefficiencies through a work time reduction program, you find that often a shorter workweek is well within reach.”
Cross-training
According to Breen, it’s all about how you manage your working life.
“We have to be careful not to cross the line between working a compressed week [packing five days work into four days] and working a four-day week,” she says. “Here at ICE, we manage that by cross-training, so your work mates cover you on your day off.
“Operational hours haven’t changed and it’s important that clients receive the same level of service,” she added.
“Cross-training does take a lot of work, especially when you have to factor in things like holiday leave, sick leave and attrition,” says Breen. But in her opinion, there’s no doubt that the extra effort is worth it.
“The benefits are mighty, real and many,” she says. “It’s about having the head space to return to work at the start of the week feeling energised, focused and happy.”
Employee wellbeing
Breen isn’t the only employee at ICE Group who is happier with a three-day weekend every week, especially when there is no salary reduction. And the company has the data to support this.
“We have seen a reduction in unplanned attrition; 20 per cent decrease in staff travel time and a continuous reduction in short term absences,” says Margaret. “Specifically, the benefits in terms of employees’ wellbeing continue to be impressive.”
ICE Group has been tracking employee happiness metrics, with regular surveys showing significant increases in employee happiness. Specifically, the group reports:
- an increase from 48 per cent to 65 per cent of staff saying ‘we feel really good about ourselves’,
- an increase from 60 per cent to 74 per cent of staff saying ‘we feel more cheerful’, and
- an increase from 14 per cent to 35 per cent of staff saying ‘we have more energy to spare’.
Market leaders of tomorrow
According to Joe, the market leaders of tomorrow will not be the organisations that prioritise hustling harder and working longer.
“They will create a virtuous circle by offering a greater quality of life to attract and retain top talent, and reinforce this competitive advantage by embracing AI and new technologies to streamline their processes.”
Breen credits Margaret and the leaders at ICE Group for the success of the initiative in their workplace.
“It took a huge amount of vision and passion from Margaret and the team to implement the four-day workweek at ICE,” she said. “And at this stage it’s just embedded into the company ethos. I could never go back to a five-day workweek”.
If the four-day workweek isn’t the future of work for society at large, for now the employees at ICE Group are quite happy living in the present.
