The COVID19 pandemic has had a huge impact on people’s working lives, in particular those that work in offices. The shift towards flexible working was initially just in location and through lockdown necessities, but as employers of all sizes see that happier employees are more productive employees, they are now more open to new flexible working ideas such as working 4 days a week, as long as they don’t affect productivity.
The UK trial of the four-day week from June to December 6 2022 has given this model some impressive momentum, with 70 companies and 3,300 employees signing up for the trial. Results are due in February 2023, but 95% of the companies surveyed at the middle point of the trial in September anticipated that productivity had either stayed the same or improved since the adoption of this model.
Is working 4 days a week part-time?
Not if you didn’t want it to be. Working 4 days a week while remaining full-time would mean that employees will work up to 9.5 hours a day – the equivalent of 9am to 6.30pm – in order to fit a week of work into four longer days. However, working a four-day week at no change in hours a day would then turn into a 32 hour week instead of full time.
How employers chose to roll out a 4 day week would depend on what they were prepared to offer, and what is manageable for the company.
Are 4 longer days better than 5 standard days?
The argument for 4 longer days instead of 5 standard days is that it gives you 3 day weekends to do more or go further with friends or family. You only need to see the traffic at the start of a bank holiday weekend to see how popular that idea is.
However, there are those that argue that the longer days are unrealistic for those with dependants, needing to help with homework, or caring for older relatives.
What do you need in place to consider offering 4 day weeks?
Whilst there are people working from home a lot more, hybrid working is a much more frequently used approach than working from work all the time, to give employees the best work/life balance.
That means that if you’re looking to offer 4 longer days, you need an office space that is flexible to access. Serviced office spaces are ideal for this situation, as they offer easy access at all times without the need for dozens of door keys and alarm codes and usually come with safe and free car parking.
Serviced office spaces for working 4 days a week
If you’re looking for a flexible serviced office space in Surrey that enables you to set your team’s working schedule to increase staff satisfaction, get in touch with SEND Business Centre.
