Recruitment firm Highfield Professional Solutions has announced the start of a three-month trial on four-day work weeks after an overwhelming response from employees on the importance of work/life balance and wellbeing. After a company vision day where the whole team came together to share ideas, goals, and expectations, it was made clear that a shift in how the company works was at the top of the list.
The business is making the change without introducing a compressed schedule or loss of pay so everyone at Highfield works for four days while they are paid for five. The goal is to improve productivity between Mondays to Thursdays as well as employee satisfaction as the three-day weekend allows for more opportunities to relax and be with family. An extra day each week has been shown to create opportunities for upskilling, volunteering, and caregiving, reducing the stress and pressure that workers may be under during the traditional five-day weeks.
The business is using Q3 to trial this new way of working, with the hopes that by the end of the quarter (1st October 2021) they will be able to keep four-day weeks as a permanent working structure. Time management will be critical to ensuring this trial is a success as the need to hit targets and maintain connections with candidates and clients will remain as important as ever. Support is being given to the teams to help organise time and efficiently plan out the shorter week. It has been important for the business to be more innovative with automation so that they can still be contacted and available on the one day a week they are no longer scheduled to work.
“A global pandemic has brought work life balance to the forefront of everyone’s minds here at Highfield and Data X Connect,” says co-founder Liam Thomas. “One of the team put forward a proposal of a reduced working week with a reduced salary. We liked the idea, but we didn’t want to ask anyone to take a reduction in salary or benefits.
“We have always been a colleague focused business, but we felt like we could do more. It was the right time to be bold, push things further and try a new initiative. We decided on a four-day working week but with full pay and no compressed hours. The potential benefits are clear – happier colleagues, improved mental health, increased productivity, increased engagement, reduced environmental impact and access to a broader talent pool of new potential colleagues.
“So far, we have had colleagues that are doing the school run for the first time, meeting friends and family for lunch or just catching up on admin that normally creeps into the weekend,” Thomas adds. “It’s personally very rewarding to be able to offer a life changing benefit like a three-day weekend, every weekend.”
Research from Henley Business School found that four-day working weeks increased the overall quality of life for employees, with over three quarters (78 per cent) of businesses implementing it saying staff were happier, less stressed (70 per cent) and took fewer days off ill (62 per cent). Perpetual Guardian, a company in New Zealand, had a successful trial which resulted in seeing a 20 per cent rise in productivity. Highfield hopes this trial will achieve an increase in productivity and overall wellbeing for everyone at the company.
