Compliance and the four-day week

Sandra Moran at WorkForce Software describes how to navigate the evolving scheduling and compliance challenges presented by a four-day work week

We’re at a time where employees aren’t shy about telling employers what they want or pushing to have more of their needs met including more flexibility and more say in their work. One idea growing in popularity is the four-day work week.

Breaking the traditional 9-5, 40-hour work week seems inevitable, and employers should be open-minded and consider letting actual productivity, retention and engagement be their guide to a final decision. In a change as potentially ground-breaking for workers, it’s far better to be proactive and reap the rewards of early adoption than to be forced to comply when it no longer differentiates them or when regulation forces their hand. 

Belgium was the first country to legislate a four-day work week, signing a law in November 2022, and other countries have taken notice. In the United States, a bill has been proposed in Pennsylvania. Many organisations will soon need to look into whether a four-day work week is feasible because the desire for that option will likely outpace the regulatory requirement.

A pilot programme in the United Kingdom was so successful that 92% of companies vowed to continue the practice. The programme was a win-win — not only did employees feel they benefited from getting time back, but the companies that participated actually saw revenue tick up 1.4% and turnover drop by a substantial 57% over the trial period.

One key takeaway from the pilot programme is applicable to any employer who’s thinking about how to make a four-day week work: there’s no right way to implement the change. The programme took on many structures, from the traditional Friday-off approach to staggered, decentralised and annualised models.

While the four-day work week offers benefits to both employees and employers, it requires adopting the right mindset and careful planning to overcome implementation and compliance challenges.

Redefining units of work

For a four-day work week to be effective, employers need to break traditional notions of how work is structured. Rather than view jobs as inflexible sets of tasks, managers should focus on empowering employees with the right technology and flexibility to get their work done in new ways.

This change in work patterns also means seeing that a reimagined schedule isn’t just for people in corporate roles. Roles requiring on-site presence can also benefit if leaders are willing to get innovative to overcome constraints. By digitising scheduling and approaching scheduling creatively, nearly any job could be adapted to a more flexible schedule for the individuals performing the work.

For example, an assembly line may require 300 people working five-day shifts. With the right planning, cross-training, and division of labour, the same output could be achieved by creatively overlapping four-day employee schedules. 

Those 300 employees aren’t simply interchangeable parts. Some have specialised skills that others do not, meaning it’s more about assembling the right skills and expertise for any given shift than just providing a fixed number of resources. This way, coverage can be maintained while allowing employees more control over their schedules. Artificial constraints such as “this is how we’ve always done things” must evolve.

With the right systems and mindset shift focused on output rather than prescribed work methods, a four-day week can become a reality that empowers employees while still meeting business requirements — a win for both parties.

Sector-specific challenges

The transition to a four-day work week raises unique compliance and scheduling challenges across different industries. However, the pandemic demonstrated that even roles requiring employers.

In manufacturing, condensed shifts will require careful coordination and potentially new staffing models to maintain output. The public sector will need to find ways to maintain critical services for constituents, so staggering schedules will be key. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government adopted a four-day week in July 2023, after a programme with the emirate of Sharjah resulted in a 90% increase in job performance, employee happiness, and mental health.

Highly regulated industries like healthcare and financial services may have to be more creative to find ways to balance these flexibility demands based on the legislation they already have to comply with.

Each sector will benefit from questioning long-held assumptions. Retailers can consider flexible shift patterns based on foot traffic data. Media companies can leverage analytics to guide content production with fewer in-office days. The key is not treating past norms as constraints, but seeking creative solutions that manage the workforce and enable the business to meet their objectives.

Despite the many obstacles, it’s a worthwhile endeavour to try the four-day work week due to its benefits. Studies show 71% of employees report less burnout and 39% report less stress, while organisations saw 65% fewer sick and personal days. 

With collaboration between managers and staff, a customised four-day approach can be developed for nearly any industry. It may not be easy, but it’s certainly possible to pull off a four-day work week, even in jobs that must be performed in a particular place.

How technology can help

Technology will play a pivotal role in allowing organisations to implement four-day work weeks without compliance or productivity pitfalls. Solutions can include digitisation, automation, machine learning/artificial intelligence, analytics, and communication tools. These all provide greater flexibility around how an organisation configures and fills shifts including the regulations it must adhere to.

Automation can condense many manual workflows into shorter timeframes, allowing human employees to focus on higher-value work. Scheduling apps and demand forecasting algorithms can generate optimal shift patterns and assignments. This visibility into workload trends aids managers in planning condensed or varied staff schedules.

Advanced analytics help businesses optimise staffing, schedules, and workload distribution for different individual work patterns while still optimising overall output. Data can reveal the workflows most suitable for automation versus those still needing human oversight.

Of course, the remote collaboration technology and productivity software that has been commonplace since the pandemic has become almost ubiquitous and helps support flexible work arrangements. We’re still in the very early phases of understanding what work must be performed on-site, and what work could be performed somewhere else with the same efficacy.

As that understanding evolves and companies become more comfortable with offering four-day work weeks, or other non-traditional work patterns to individual employees, they will have the tools available to satisfy their employees’ preference for flexibility and be in a better position to differentiate their organisations from those who have not yet innovated in this way and ultimately, comply with new legislation that may be coming into effect.

Sandra Moran is Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer at WorkForce Software

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com