By Nicole Miller

When we experimented with a four-day workweek it was initially for one month. As our CEO, Joel Gascoigne, wrote about in May 2020 when we first started the experiment, “This 4-day workweek period is about well-being, mental health, and placing us as humans and our families first.”

At the end of May, while we were collecting the data on how the experiment went, we continued working a four-day workweek. In June, after we saw that the results were overall good for us, we shifted to a four-day workweek for the rest of 2020. Our team was surprised by these results, having expected naturally diminished productivity with fewer workdays. At the time, our Chief of Staff, Carolyn Kopprasch, wrote:

“Since the intention was to give temporary relief from typical expectations to teammates during an especially hard and unprecedented time, we did not set goals around productivity or results. In fact, we expected a tangible drop in productivity due to reduced hours.

However, due to increased rest and reflection, many of you have shared that you felt your weekly productivity was in fact not all that different, and that your quality of work was higher while experiencing improved overall wellbeing.”

In the end, we shifted to a four-day workweek for the foreseeable future at the end of 2020.

Now, we’re three months away from having operated by a four-day workweek for two years. We recently ran an internal survey to check in with the Buffer team on how many days they are working, if they feel happier and more productive, and finally, if they are able to get the work required of them completed in four days.

Here are the results:

91% of our team are happier and more productive working four days a week

This is a great piece of data for us — 91 percent of our teammates either agree or strongly agree that they are happier and more productive now that they work a four-day workweek, as for the remaining nine percent, on the scale they all selected “neutral.”

This was our hope when we first started out experimenting with a four-day workweek and we’re thrilled that this is still the impact nearly two years later.

Most of our team is only working four days a week

One of the most common questions we get is if we are really only working four days a week, and now we have the data to confidently say — yes, most of our team are only working four days a week, or they choose to work five shorter days, which is an option several parents felt better suited their families.

In our most recent survey, 73 percent of Buffer teammates are only working a four-day workweek (or five shorter days which is an option). The …read more

Source:: Buffer Blog

Author: Aaron