Pros and Cons of the 4 Day Week - One year in @ Hollbridge
By Peter Holland, Director and Founder of Hollbridge
Hollbridge is a recruitment business aiming to help companies within the Streaming and Broadcast sphere to secure the best talent on the market. We need driven and hungry individuals to work in our team to provide the best results.
Recruiting Recruiters
It is harder than it sounds to find Sales people that make good recruiters and it is hard to convince Tech recruiters from bigger companies to join a smaller team. So perks had to come with joining Hollbridge.
As the Director of Hollbridge I always valued my own work life balance a lot. I have a young family and want to enjoy spending time with them. I also value outdoor time, keeping fit and being able to see friends. All of these elements made the idea of introducing the 4 day week an interesting idea, both for self care and to attract talent. Full pay - 4 days work. Quite the pitch.
Implementing the 4 day week
Hollbridge implemented the 4 day week one year ago, and if anyone asks me if I would recommend it the answer would be a flat out yes. It definitely helped me secure talent and it has helped to create a work environment in which “work life balance” is not just an empty HR slogan. Below you can find my Pros and Cons along the journey.
Pros
Everyone is so much happier and balanced
The parents in the team have an extra day with their kids
People don't have to squeeze life admin into lunch breaks and weekends
Everyone is still hitting or surpassing their targets
Cons
Team days out feel like a cheat when they reduce the working week to 3 days
It takes quite a lot of time to get used to and implement rules around bank holidays to make sure you are not losing too many days per year
Not really a con but initially hard work - you have to become a lot more process and efficiency focussed to get the same results
What the teams says
Unsurprisingly the team is on board with the 4 day week. Please find below quotes of our Consultants Nick Mackmin-Wood and Harry Lestrange.
Nick: ”I have been working 5 and sometimes 6 or 7 day weeks for most of my working life so the 4 day week has brought a massive change to my life. I did question if it would work from a productivity stand point. Now I’m in the swing, I can’t see that I would ever go back. My work / life balance is perfect with this setup, I am successful at my job and there is no need to worry about burning out.”
Harry: ”On the face of it, you would assume a 4 day work week means doing less work overall. However, when you get an extra day off each week, you can really use this time to relax and recharge your batteries. So on Monday you can hit the ground running and your output is much better because you have more energy to succeed and work more efficiently.”
