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About six weeks ago, we shifted our 24-person company to a four-day work week. Here's what happened:
A thread 1/
A thread 1/
First, some context. We declared Friday as a "flex day" - meaning that each employee could use Friday however they wanted (just like Saturday and Sunday lol). All we asked is that they try to maintain the same levels of productivity as our standard five-day work week. 2/
So some employees chose to pack their work into Mon-Thu and took Friday completely off. Others chose to keep their week spread out. Others used Friday to work on personal projects or to catch up from the week. Total flexibility and autonomy. 3/
Personally, I ended up using Friday differently depending on the week. But no matter how I decided to use my Friday, the improvement in my mood over the weekend and the increase in my level of excitement to start the week on Monday was significant. 4/
Think about this way: In a normal five-day week, you work super hard for five days, then you try to squeeze a combination of recovery from the previous week, social time with family/friends, errands, exercise, and whatever else into just two days. It's not enough time. 5/
Plus, we are all familiar with "Sunday Scaries" right?? It's that feeling that seems to creep in on Sunday right around 3-4 pm and totally ruins the rest of your weekend because you can't stop thinking about work and everything that is waiting for you on Monday morning. 6/
And the final nail in the Friday coffin for our team was the immense difference between Friday in the office and Friday working from home. In the office, Friday was super fun. Drinks in the afternoon, excitement about the weekend. Social and enriching. At home? Not so much. 7/
Working at home on Fridays is a SLOG. You feel chained to your desk and constricted by the expectation of engagement on email/Slack. Even I could feel my own motivation waning on Fridays. ME. The co-founder of my own company. So my employees must have been going nuts. 8/
So we closed virtual Volt HQ on Fridays and the result has been amazing. Our employees have reported nearly 100% increases in both job satisfaction and productivity. Here's some anonymous feedback from our team: 9/
"Having 3 days to recharge has made a huge difference. One day to chill, one day to get chores done, and one day to do something fun. It also allows for enough time to let some of the work stress slip away before diving back into the week." 10/
"The shift to a 4-day work week has made it exponentially easier for me to manage my work/life balance. My work times are more concentrated & productive, while the stretch of non-work days feels long enough for me to actually unwind from the stress of the work week." 11/
"Flex Fridays has allowed me to breathe and I feel like my other four days are more on point, my mental health is much better, and I have not lost (probably gained) productivity because of it." 12/
"I feel much more relaxed day to day and I feel like I have been more productive overall. Over the last few weekends I have taken extra time to work at my leisure and have gotten a lot done..." 13/
"... Contrast this with the amount of work I was generally getting done on Fridays and the difference is pretty noticeable. Not that I wasn't trying to work hard on Fridays before, but my brain was usually pretty tired by the end of the week. Now I feel a lot less run down." 14/
"I find myself to be more focused & intentional during the work-week. I still tend to log on during the weekends, but I really don't mind. I like being able to create my own fluid schedule on the weekends. Life feels incredibly balanced right now, almost too good to be true." 15/
"I have more personal time to recharge and prepare for the next week. More time to run personal errands before the busy weekend. More personal/career development time (which I have not really had time for during a five-day work week). That extra day has had a big difference." 16/
"I have been thrilled with the ability to use my Friday for whatever I need/want. It's awesome to be able to get out of the city, or explore the city, or go to stores/parks when it's less crowded. It's also nice to have a day without meetings so I can catch up on things..." 17/
"...I have also been using the time to catch up on my life (housework, gardening, seeing family/friends, etc). But ultimately, the very best thing about the four-day work week is my ability to recover and bring my best self to work on Monday morning. I love this schedule!" 18/
"I get to relax on the weekends more, then feel more focused during the week. I thought I was going to have to make a conscious effort to work harder during the week to make up for the lost time, but it just seems to happen naturally, which I've been happy about." 19/
"My life feels perfectly balanced right now. I feel so refreshed by the time Monday arrives. I've been able to spend more time with my family, so for that, thank you!" 20/
So we're keeping the four-day magic rolling! I'm really excited to see what our team is able to accomplish with the four-day schedule, both in and out of the virtual office. 21/
Imagine a world where every single person had an extra 52 days per year to do whatever they wanted. Imagine the personal and professional development that could take place. There are so many things we just don't have time for and the four-day work week unlocks those things. 22/
Learn a new language, take online coding classes, start an online MBA, volunteer, protest for social justice, spend more time with your family, exercise, visit a friend, call your sister, go for a hike when the trails aren't crowded, DO ANYTHING YOU WANT. Fridays are yours. 23/
If you're interested in learning more about how we structured our Flex Fridays experiment at @VoltAthletics, I wrote about it on @Medium: https://medium.com/@dan_47030/going-remote-part-ii-flex-fridays-92ce6def16ba 24/
And our friends at @geekwire (who do an amazing job covering the tech scene in Seattle and around the country), picked it up and added some context from @AndrewYang (the #YangGang loves it 
) and from @jacindaardern. Here's @Taylor_Soper's story: https://www.geekwire.com/2020/seattle-startup-shifted-4-day-work-week-due-pandemic-heres-happened/ 25/
) and from @jacindaardern. Here's @Taylor_Soper's story: https://www.geekwire.com/2020/seattle-startup-shifted-4-day-work-week-due-pandemic-heres-happened/ 25/
Since those articles landed, I've received dozens of emails and @LinkedIn messages from leaders across a wide variety of industries asking for more information. Clearly, the four-day work week is resonating. We know we have to help our people get through this pandemic. 26/
Accumulating fatigue is a real thing, which all of my strength coach and sport science brethren can attest to. The body and mind can only take so much stress before it starts to fray. We thought this pandemic might be a sprint, but it's a marathon, so we have to adjust. 27/
Nothing is more important right now than our employees' collective mental, physical, and spiritual health. If we can give them more time to recover and enrich their lives without sacrificing productivity, we absolutely should. 28/
Okay, end of thread.
If you want to learn more about our Flex Fridays policy (or about anything else we're doing at @VoltAthletics
), feel free to shoot me a message.
Oh yeah, and we're hiring. Message me for details
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If you want to learn more about our Flex Fridays policy (or about anything else we're doing at @VoltAthletics
), feel free to shoot me a message. Oh yeah, and we're hiring. Message me for details
29/
