SMEs are being the first to adopt the four-day week. These are your lessons

At the World Economic Forum held last January in Davos, a talk was organized on the four-day work week without pay reduction. During the colloquium, emphasis was placed on some of the advantages of the 32-hour work week and it was pointed out, on the other hand, that many Western European countries are at the forefront of the tests that prove the effectiveness of this reduced work day.

Two of those countries are Spain and Portugal. In the neighboring country, the test will be held during the second half of this year, and it has already generated the interest of a hundred companies, most of them small and medium-sized. This is not accidental: many SMEs People from all over the world who have tried the four-day week have recognized numerous benefits. These are the experiences of some of these firms.

Increase productivity and income. On February 15, Brad Griffith, president of Buckeye Innovation, a company specializing in web development, stated in an article in Forbes that the firm’s adoption of the four-day work week had had very positive results: productivity increased and revenue increased by 30%.

In addition, Griffith noted that giving staff more time to use for personal and professional development, as well as caring for their families, has raised the spirits of the company’s 16 members.

Tool to hire workers. On the other hand, Griffith indicated that the four-day work week can help SMEs when recruiting staff. Given the difficulties in hiring a worker with the ideal profile, the 32-hour week can be an incentive for workers who, although they do not meet all the requirements, do have a high capacity for concentration and productivity.

Competitive advantage over large firms. However, the four-day work week can help do just the opposite: recruit the most qualified staff. Such has been the experience of Rent a Recruiter, an Irish recruitment firm that adopted the 32-hour work week and teleworking to improve its competitiveness after carrying out a test organized by 4 Day Work Week.

It attracts talent. According to Barry Prost, its CEO, this three-day day off can help SMEs that are unable to offer the same salary as larger companies and convince highly-qualified professionals. Additionally, Prost assured that the firm had managed to retain the entire workforce (previously they had a labor turnover of 20%), increase productivity by 50% and increase the well-being of employees

The professionals do not want to leave. For his part, Jon Leland, director of the strategy department of Kickstarter, a crowdfunding company that participated in the same test of 4 Day Week Globalrecognized in a post published by this organization that the result had been a “true win-win”: the workforce was retained, income increased and the well-being of professionals rose.

Some problems. Contrasting with the very positive results are the problems that the four-day work week can create. In this sense, the design agency Lyon & Lyon pointed out in statements to Forbes that business relationships with certain customers had been affected by the adoption of the four-day work week.

Lack of coordination. Benny Lyon, co-founder of the company along with his brother Mat, acknowledged that there are delivery dates that the firm cannot meet: “There are customers who want the product quickly, and we cannot give it to them on a Friday.” Therefore, Benny added that “the four-day work week is here to stay, but we still have a lot to do to make it work for us.”

The key is organization. In other words, the 32-hour work week without salary reduction is not obtained overnight: it requires a high level of organization, something that SMEs can obtain more easily than multinationals, according to statements made to the BBC Pedro Gomes, Professor at Birkbeck University of London and coordinator of the four-day work week trial to be held this year in Portugal.

Four-day work week to the rescue. In this regard, Victoria Firth, who co-founded the consultancy Gray Lemon with Rhonda Curliss, pointed out some difficulties they had faced during the implementation of the four-day work week. In her case, the adoption of this day was due to the need to reconcile, during confinement, the activity of the firm and domestic care. This confirms, on the other hand, the way in which teleworking can amplify the gender gap.

Avoid getting burned. Firth pointed out that in order to avoid the stress that having one day less to carry out all the tasks of the week can generate, it is necessary to improve the organization of the company and establish administrative support mechanisms that provide the necessary time and space for professionals Be productive and enjoy your work.

Image: Pixabay