How to persuade your boss on a 4-day working week?

On the advantages of a four-day working week has already been said a lot (as a 40-hour, or about 38 hours). Today we tell about how to convince your boss to let you make the experiment work with the transition to the 4-day working week. If you try it and do not ask, you never know, so go for it!

1 step. Rate your work schedule

First of all look at your schedule and see if all go really for 4 day working week. After that, think about how to organize the "new" working day: what you will do and how to reallocate the tasks that in the end everything fit in 4 days.

Experiment with the schedule, because the options here are many. For example, you can arrange a 4-day working week or every two weeks to change the weekend. You can also work 4 days, 10 hours a day or go for a 32-hour work week and work 4 days, 8 hours a day. Play with your schedule until you feel that you have a schedule that works for you and fits your employer. Remember, stay productive 10 hours a day - very, very difficult before, select this option.

Also, at this stage you will need to ask ourselves about the causes of the transition to a shortened week:

- You want to strike a balance between work and personal life?

- That's because you're constantly taking work home?

- You kill it, you spend a lot of time to get from home to work and back, and just want to skip a day?

Maybe you have another reason.

Your reasons - it is part of a plan to convince the boss, so make sure that they sound convincing.

Step 2. Cformiruyte plan

In the second step should be to develop a real plan and reinforce the arguments in favor of the plan for a shortened week. The benefit of the arguments "for" very much. Experiment with a 4-day week in Utah He confirmed that workers are happier, despite the 10-hour working day. CEO of 37Signals, Jason Fried believes that the 32-hour working week, productivity grows. Model work 37Signals suggests that six months you are working on the scheme with a 4-day working week, and then go back to the usual schedule. More arguments? Blog NPR He believes that when a person is satisfied with his work schedule, he has a better chance to get things done, even in a short period of time.

Then start to work out the details of your plan. What will be the timetable? Will people continue to contact you on the weekend? Are you ready to go to meetings in your day? Think about every detail as your employer can ask you about it. Think of the answers in advance.

If the new schedule has an effect on other employees, make sure you talk to them and what they are interested in it too.

Another important point is that the new schedule could help the team renew himself. If the increase in your company - not an option, this privilege can be a great alternative.

Step 3. Show boss plan

By now you should have created a schedule for a four-day working week, to talk with colleagues and make a list of things to improve in connection with the transition to your new schedule. It's time to talk to the boss!

Select the same approach as if you were doing an offer of telework or flexible working hours.

According to CNN, it is considered good form to submit your question as a business proposition. This means that you first announced the idea, then present arguments and evidence to support the fact that it will increase productivity, and then dive into the details.

Keep in mind that your employer can be a counter-offer, so be open to the maximum. If your boss will abut, offer a trial period the length of a month to see how it works.

If the idea hacked on the vine, try the version with a flexible schedule.

If the plan has failed

If your boss variant with four-day week is not an option, all is not lost! You can still change something. One option to try idea with a 20 percent allocation of working time that you really interesting. This means that every day at work you will devote some time to a non-project work. It can be 10 minutes per day or one day a week (as do Google employees), but the fact that you "broke" his working time with something productive, but not directly related to your current projects.

Another option - to convince the boss to let you work remotely. One day a week teleworking can be enough to get you rest from your office, and then restart.