What we’ve learned so far from our four-day workweek experiment
We are officially in week two of our four-day workweek experiment!
I thought it would be a great time to update you on what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and how our approach might be different from that of other companies.
In case you missed it: This summer, we’re experimenting with a four-day workweek for the first time. In the months of June, July, and August, we’re not requiring our team to work on Fridays. We’re seeing how it goes, and if we like it, we may continue with that schedule indefinitely!
If you’re familiar with our team’s culture when it comes to time off, you might be wondering why we would do a four-day work week on top of the other benefits we offer: We already have unlimited PTO, and we close our company for six Break Weeks throughout the year. On top of that, our team has complete autonomy over our work schedules, which means that any of us could choose to have a four-day workweek whenever we like.
And still, I feel the responsibility to do more as a leader. I have the opportunity to create a workplace that allows for people’s work and personal lives to work together in harmony. I never want anyone on my team to look back and resent their work for taking them away from their other priorities, and I never want my team’s families to resent my company for taking their loved ones away from them. I want to do this because I’ve recognized that offering benefits like PTO and flexible scheduling isn’t enough: As leaders, we must walk our talk and create structures that hold people accountable to using their benefits.
When it comes to what this looks like in practice, our approach to the four-day workweek is a little different from others I’ve seen: Instead of mandating that everyone take Fridays off, we’re giving our team permission to use their Fridays in the way that feels best for them. My own feelings about the four-day workweek are a big reason why.
For me, the idea of having one fewer day per week to work is actually very stressful. I already choose to work some nights and weekends to stay on top of my biggest priorities, so telling myself I have even less time to squeeze everything in doesn’t work for me. In fact, trying to stick to working just four days might lead me to burnout. And I know I’m not alone: A complaint I’ve heard about the four-day workweek is that people feel like they need to cram five days of work into four, which leads to complete overwhelm. The last thing I want is for this to be a stressful experience for me and my team.
Before we started the experiment, I thought about how I might want to use my Fridays this summer, and what I realized that I need the most is one day per week when I don’t need to be “on.” That means no meetings, no events, no need to do my hair and makeup, no scheduled anything. Just a day every week where I can focus on whatever it is I choose to focus on—which might mean that I focus on work.
I envision that most Fridays this summer, you’ll find me in my favorite coffee shops writing my next book. That’s what I’m most excited to do because during the week, I don’t often have the creative time or capacity to dedicate to it. I’ll probably also use Fridays for administrative or even personal tasks, which are the things that tend to creep into the weekends. And sometimes, I will give myself permission to do absolutely nothing. I will lay in bed and watch movies all day, and it will be glorious.
The bottom line is that I’m going to use my Summer Fridays however I want to use them, and I want the same for my team. If they are inspired to work, great. If they want to take the day off and not think about work again until Monday, great. If they want to spend the day with their families, great. My goal is to create the structure that allows them to have the freedom to choose.
Our experiment won’t be perfect: There are some Fridays this summer when I’m booked to give speeches or travel. And if we continue our four-day workweek past the summer, I will still take Friday events if I really want to, and the team might choose to attend those events with me. But if that happens, we will take a day off another time. For example, I already know that there's a week when I have an event on a Friday, so I’m planning to take the Thursday before as an unstructured day for myself to use however I please.
I’m excited to see where this experiment takes us and what it teaches us. I have a feeling we’re all going to love it, so much so that I’ve proactively blocked off Fridays in my calendar for the rest of the year. Even now, as I’m booking events for the fall, I’m thinking more intentionally about my schedule and about making up that time off in other ways when I have to book things on Fridays.
I want to point out that just five years ago, this experiment would never have happened. Five years ago, I wasn’t regularly taking time off, and no one in my company was, either. I just counted the days I’m taking off this year so far, and before factoring in this four-day workweek, I’m at twelve weeks between our Break Weeks and additional time off. As I look around at our team, I’m seeing more time taken off than ever before. And the best part? Even though skeptics say that productivity will go down with fewer working days, we’re experiencing the opposite: We’re the most energized, effective, and collaborative that we’ve ever been as a team. We’re taking more time away from work than ever before, and we’ve still managed to secure the two largest contracts we’ve ever secured in the history of our business, and the quality of our work is better than ever. Worth it!
As leaders, we must model taking time off and taking time for ourselves. Doing so gives our people the permission to do the same. Not only will we be more fulfilled as people, but together, we will take our organizations to new heights.
I’m excited to see what this experiment has in store for us!
Big hugs,
