How to work 4 days a week: the actual experience of the company
Work And Study / / December 25, 2019
Several years ago, I went into the topic productivity. Sleep more than seven hours later rise, traffic jams - all it seemed a waste of time. In fact, such a situation can be controlled, but because of them, my efficiency dropped significantly.
I did not leave the belief that it is possible to work only a few hours, but to achieve significant results. This belief and irritation from the loss of minutes forced me to find ways to effectively use time.
The first attempt failed. After a week of work for 14-16 hours a day, I noticed that my productivity level dipped. And further gusts string up to nothing lead. For an organized and balanced approach to the work I needed a system of time management.
This time management for good results requires investment.
It is unlikely that someone can sit for years on the couch, and then get up and run a marathon. And with efficiency: it will be no effect if you do not make changes in their lives.
Time management requires hard decisions that must be followed every time you think about how and what to spend their time. We need to develop new habits to incorporate them into a routine, and on this basis to do something new.
Some of the changes I helped a lot.
Fast forward a few months ago
I opened up a new company, and the feeling of loss of time once again came to the scene. It seemed to me that not enough work effectively not only me, but all my company. we disrupted deadlinesThe results were so-so. We had to do something.
Frankly, it had nothing to do with laziness. We worked a lot, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. Sometimes I was not strong enough for a family, the employees had the same difficulty.
The solution to this problem lay on my shoulders directorships. Everything related to the welfare of my employees and the company's goals, it is important for me. I again began to look for a way out. I was interested in four-day working week.
Can we give out the best results by working only four days to spend hours on the vacated friends, family and personal life?
We, the company decided to conduct an experiment.
Employees need to consent
Everybody knows the inconvenience of changeEven if the old system was bad and did not work, and the new promise of improvement.
Changes in the organization like to buy new shoes. Although previous shoes and soured, they were much more comfortable. New is better, but you need to get used to them.
Most employees must agree with you, before you begin to implement the new system.
Feedback from employees has shown that the most productive of my ideas are approved, and with the support it was easier to make changes.
Factors affecting productivity
We have already worked hard to improve productivity. But this time, approached the matter systematically: The factors that affect the results. Then we change the working environment and the working day so that the factors used to good use. Here's what we found:
- On the productive work we spend only 10-20% of the time.
- Productivity up in the morning, perhaps because we have more energy at this time.
- Rest significantly affects the efficiency (and most of us are not getting enough sleep).
- The situation in your personal life strongly influences the ability to work well.
- The more we give, the more we get.
Identify and eliminate unnecessary
I always figure out what hinders me to be productive, and I try to delete or modify these factors to spend time on important tasks. In the company we have done the same thing. Having reviewed our study, we had brainstorm and developed measures that have helped us to use time efficiently.
All meetings are held only on demand. We have found that pre-planned meetings are useless. Now we hold meetings only when there is something to discuss, or when it is necessary to develop a plan. Also we have limited time, which is to hold a meeting, depending on the number of participants and the type of meeting.
Hard work in the morning, creative ideas - the second. The most effective time employees devote to the result. This means that they are completely focused on the task: no distractions, no chit-chat, emails, instant messengers, and anything that can be moved to the afternoon.
All begin to work at the same time. The working day starts between 7 and 9 am. So the people who come too early in the morning and finish the work before, do not feel alienated and detached from those who come later.
We also tried a lot of changes that help save time. For example:
- Unfixed break for lunch and the opportunity to eat at the office. Employees do not need to decide where to go, and spend time on the road.
- use Slack for communications, we really like the messenger.
- Use Basecamp for project management and task.
- use MonoRover in the office. And save time and raise the spirits.
- We trust colleagues, when you need to do some of the work, on which depends the overall result.
- use Sketch and InVisionTo create sketches and share design ideas.
- We use Google Apps for work.
- We respect each other and do not spend too much time on unimportant tasks.
- Delegate. Alone we can not do everything.
- We prioritize and do the important things first.
We are still studying and improving processes within the company. Change work for us, for our purpose, the culture, the uniqueness of the company. All companies are different, and your list of improvements may differ from ours.
Key factors of the experiment
The entire experiment was born from a very personal reason. The reason for the change was the my desire to spend more time with his family. Time runs away, children grow up, and I was losing so much, spending five days on the job and working from home on the weekends. Children began to look at me as a neighbor, it had to be changed. It was necessary to allow more time for priorities - family and children.
The second reason. I want my employees to do more.
When you invest in people, they understand it and try to give you back more.
In my opinion, we employ the best employees. They are easy to be generous. I I make decisions business development, and giving employees shorter work week, I provide them with a significant resource. In theory, by increasing their efficiency, they are more invested in the success of the company.
This approach works with people of any type and in any situation, as shown by Gary Vaynerchuk (gary Vaynerchuk) in the book "Jab, jab, jab, right hook"An example of working with clients.
The third reason - the desire to get the status of an attractive employer. It is necessary to attract the best to make excellent products. Potential employees of this caliber always have several job offers and conduct their own investigation before signing the contract.
I believe that by creating a corporate culture that employees enjoy, we will rise above the competition when it comes time to hire new employees. Four-day workweek, this contributes, in addition, three output - an attractive bonus for candidates.
Interim results and conclusions
We tested four-day working week for a month. And although, my results can be called premature, I am sure that the experiment was a success.
I work 10-12 hours a day, four days a week and spend with the family three days off. And I'm more productive. My co-workers are doing more. The more we give, the more we get. In this situation, all won.
We have yet to find out whether we will win the competition as the best employer, but that quality of life should be like future candidates.
In addition, we are seeing proof positive changes:
- We have increased the efficiency and speed of progress.
- We have more energy.
- We focus on the goals of the company as well as on their personal.
- We accurately and efficiently spend time in the office.
- Many of us voluntarily work longer (10-14 hours).
- All spend more time with family and friends.
This is the most significant experiment of all is that we spent in the company. When launched the idea, I was not sure it would work. To be honest, things could turn out badly. Dips are rarely contribute to the upsurge of fighting spirit, and return to the five days it would be unpleasant.
In short, we risked. But this was a deliberate and calculated risk. And, fortunately, it was worth it.
Our way
I'm still not used to three weekends, and my staff also more adaptable. We have time to do much in four days, but this is only part of my genetic code. And I'm still looking for ways to increase productivity. However, to move to a three-day working week, we do not plan to.
It comes down to the real target. Not only work a few hours, as suggested by Tim Ferris (Tim Ferris) in his popular book "How to work 4 hours a weekยป. We're just looking for a balance between work and life, family, hobbies and travel.
Everyone has their own list of favorite things. But as a company we need to constantly look for ways to achieve this balance, which helps to achieve unprecedented success.