Sydney, May 14: Twelve months ago, EES Shipping, a family-owned freight-forwarding company, embarked on a pioneering journey by introducing a four-day work week for its staff.
This shift was not merely a change in scheduling but a strategic move towards enhancing productivity and promoting staff wellbeing.
Initially, the company adopted a phased approach to the reduced work week, starting with one additional day off per month, progressing to a nine-day fortnight, and finally settling into the four-day work routine. This transition was based on the 100-80-100 model, where employees receive one hundred per cent of their pay for eighty per cent of the time worked, while still maintaining one hundred per cent productivity.
A year into the implementation, the results have been promising.
“Almost every operational metric is trending higher than last year, and the total number of sick days taken is down, which highlights that business productivity hasn’t been negatively impacted,” Brian Hack, Managing Director of EES Shipping said.
“We’re meeting relevant business targets and clients are still receiving the same high-level service and communication, which to us was always going to be part of the measurement of success.”
The drive towards a shorter working week was spurred by a desire to support the team’s wellbeing and ensure a better work-life balance, which Hack believed would, in turn, benefit the business.
“When we first start seriously considering the idea, we were anecdotally hearing the impact of burnout on workers throughout the industry, and we didn’t want that for our staff,” Hack explained.
Moreover, with a tight labor market, EES Shipping sought innovative ways to attract and retain employees beyond just offering higher salaries.
“It’s a cliché, but we know that if staff are happy in their work and personal lives, then that flows through to the business also,” Hack remarked.
However, the rollout of the four-day work week presented its challenges.
Hack acknowledged the initial hurdles, stating, “We worked out pretty quickly that it couldn’t be a one size fits all approach to how the days off worked, particularly in an industry such as ours that effectively operates 24/7.”
Adapting to these challenges, departments within EES Shipping were given the autonomy to tailor the four-day model to best suit their operational needs and daily demands. This flexibility, coupled with a newfound appreciation for time management, led to more efficient practices, such as shorter and more productive meetings.
Hack’s advice for other companies considering a similar shift is clear: be flexible, start small, and be open to new ideas.
“We had to look at the way we do things, and ask ourselves could we do it differently? We’ve had to develop different solutions and think outside the square,” he said.
This initiative has not only improved the company’s operational efficiency but has also enhanced Hack’s leadership approach, allowing him to lead by example in fostering the kind of culture he envisions for his team.
“Being able to use that extra day off to get into the gym a bit more, take the kids to school – it’s not ground-breaking stuff, but it makes such a difference to my life overall. I want the team to see that these things are important too, life is so much more than work,” Hack reflected.
As EES Shipping continues to navigate and refine its four-day work week model, Hack remains hopeful about the future, stating, “Yes, it’s been a bit tricky to implement a four-day week, but that’s because we’re trying something new, and we had nothing to base it on. Hopefully we’re learning lessons that will make it easier for the next company to implement, and the one after that, and then one day this won’t be unusual at all.”
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