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. A New Zealand company experimented with working four days a week. For more than three-quarters of employees, this change was accompanied by a better balance between private life and work (+24%).

permanent guardian It is a documented company that specializes in managing money, wills and real estate. 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.

Founder of the company Andrew Barneshad the ambition to give its employees a better quality of life, more time for leisure and family life, with the hope of achieving better concentration during the working days.

visible results

scholars whoUniversity of Auckland Collect quantitative and qualitative data before, during, and after testing to understand the consequences of this change of pace 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, and commitment and a sense of success at work increased, with an increased sense of personal satisfaction (+5%).

Helen Delaney, a researcher at the University of Auckland, believes that employee motivation and engagement is due to their involvement in decision-making processes. For example, take part in the implementation of the new schedule. “Employees have created 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 useshe explained.

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In light of the results, the company’s president decided to propose to the management committee that the approach be perpetuated: “If you have parents who can spend more time with their kids, why would that be 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 of person 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 president insists guardian.

Even the New Zealand Minister of Labor Ian is not Galloway Results foundso interestingHe 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“.