Alternative Work Week Series: A Successful Pilot!
The ReadySet Alternative Work Week (AWW) Pilot has come to an end, but we have some exciting news to share.
After a full six months of testing, the Alternative Work Week is here to stay!
In 2022, ReadySet piloted a variation of a 4-day work week. One Friday each month our office was fully closed to provide team members with time off to recharge. A second Friday each month was designated an Innovation and Enrichment (I&E) Day. These Fridays were also closed to client work, and used as internal days to focus on strategy, thought-leadership, brainstorming, team bonding, personal development, etc.
My personal experience with the AWW Pilot has been overwhelmingly positive. As part of the People Science team, I’ve had the opportunity to help develop our approach to measuring impact, distribute the engagement surveys, and analyze survey data. It’s been enormously fulfilling to help carry out the AWW vision that our COO, Rachel Marcuse, and Head of Employee Experience, Paloma Figueroa, first shared with the team in January.
At ReadySet, we specialize in advising our clients on how to create more human-centric and inclusive workplaces. But the work starts internally–we can’t act as authentic, trusted advisors for our clients if we aren’t also challenging the status quo within our own company culture. For me, the AWW pilot is an important reminder that our leaders are actively prioritizing employee wellbeing. After all, you can’t pour from an empty cup.
The AWW pilot was deemed successful at ReadySet and will become a permanent initiative in 2023. We’re excited to empower other organizations to follow in our footsteps. To better understand the impact and success of the pilot, the People Science team conducted a pretest-posttest analysis of employee sentiments regarding burnout, well-being, work-life balance, creativity, and organizational effectiveness. Using current research, we developed survey impact metrics to analyze these sentiments through the administration of three engagement surveys. The surveys included Likert scale (1-5 rating) questions, brief open-ended questions, and optional demographic questions.
We asked the same set of Likert scale questions in both the March pre-test survey and the November post-test survey. Here are the most interesting trends:
We also asked open-ended questions to provide space for employees to clarify their responses. This is what we heard:
WHAT’S GOING WELL?
“I have the ability to take care of personal matters on RS Closed days that don't require me to take PTO. It's been invaluable.”
“Every Friday, it feels like the pressure from throughout the week suddenly subsides (even if there is still work to be done). It provides an opportunity to focus more on individual tasks. I return to work on Mondays feeling extremely refreshed and ready to work.”
“I like that we set clear boundaries with clients and each other. I don't feel pressure to work on the Fridays that we have off.”
“I love having the time for heads-down work and the days off too! It's improving my energy levels.”
WHAT CAN BE IMPROVED?
“I still need to deprogram the way my mind is wired to work.”
“I would LOVE more team-building events. I think they would help me feel more connected to my colleagues.”
At a high level, we saw a strong improvement across quantitative scores and employees reported an increased sense of connection within the team. As the pilot went on, we refined our Innovation and Enrichment (I&E) day programming to balance the desire for more team-building opportunities with the need to give our teammates space to innovate.
My biggest concern when the pilot first launched was that our workload would not shift with our new schedule. I would still have 40+ hours of work to complete during any given week, so why would it matter if I had an extra day off? To my surprise, I found that one less day of work also meant one less day of meetings and deliverables to prepare for. Our clients were very respectful of the boundaries we set on our days off, allowing me to fully unplug. With the support of my manager and client partners, my workload naturally adjusted to the new schedule, instead of the other way around.
Getting Started
We know that implementing a four-day workweek is a daunting task. There are so many unanswered questions: How will leaders react? What will clients or customers think? Will staff feel overwhelmed? Our team asked these same questions at the beginning of the year when we first considered the AWW pilot. Fortunately, we’ve learned a lot in the meantime.
Our People Team has put together a toolkit to help you set up an Alternative Work Week Pilot at your organization. Enter your name and email to download the free toolkit below.
Ready to implement a four-day workweek at your organization but still not sure where to start? Set up some time to talk to one of our experts.