Work four days for five jobs (in New Zealand)

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Without insulting Nicolas Sarkozy, it is possible to work less to earn more. One New Zealand company experimented with a four-day-a-week working regime. For more than three-quarters of employees, this change was accompanied by a better work-life balance (+24%).

permanent guardian It is a certified company specialized in the management of money, wills and estates. Between March and April 2018, the company’s 240 employees worked four days a week, eight hours a day, with their paychecks continuing for five days.

company founder Andrew BarnesShe had the ambition to give her employees a better quality of life, more time for leisure and family life, with the hope of achieving better focus during work days.

visible results

Scientists fromUniversity of Auckland Collect quantitative and qualitative data before, during, and after testing to understand the consequences of this change in velocity on employee health.

In November of the previous year, 54% of employees felt they had a satisfactory work-life balance compared to 78% at the end of the probationary period. Employee stress was reduced by 7% during the experiment, commitment and a sense of success at work increased, with a sense of personal satisfaction increased (+5%).

Helen Delaney, a researcher at the University of Auckland, believes that employees’ motivation and participation is due to their involvement in decision-making processes. For example, participate in the implementation of the new schedule. “Employees have come up with a number of innovations and initiatives to work more productively and efficiently: from automating manual processes to eliminating the use of the Internet for personal use.‘, she explained.

Article conversion

In view of the results, the head of the company decided to suggest to the management committee the perpetuation of the approach: “If you have parents who can spend more time with their children, why is that such a bad thing?Andrew Barnes is convinced that the new paradigm has the potential to profoundly change society for the better.

“Are you the type who suffers from fewer mental health concerns when you have more time to take care of yourself and your interests? probably! If there are fewer people in the office at the same time, can we create smaller offices?‘, the chief insists on guardian.

Even the New Zealand Minister of Labor Ian not Galloway I found the resultsso interesting“He encourages other companies to try the exercise:”I am really keen to work with any company that is looking to be more flexible with their employees to improve productivity by working with them to protect them on good terms“.