The Case for a Four-Day Work Week

You can cut your work week by a day while boosting company morale exponentially. Here are 6 good reasons to try it.

After living within the confines of a four-day work week during the past four months at Slingshot SEO, my first reaction to questions about this unbelievable perk is “Why not?” Small business owners, CEOs and executives from all over the country ask me on a weekly basis if it really works. My answer is a resounding YES!

Obviously, if you have a large customer service component to your business or if you must be open for retail hours, it takes a bit of ingenuity and some scheduling prowess to adjust to this type of schedule. Perhaps after reading this blog post you will want to try a pilot version of the famous Slingshot SEO four-day work week in your business. If you do, I would love to hear how it goes or answer a question or two.

First, though, let me explain the “why” behind this concept, beginning with a very important aspect of the “people” portion of any business – the “company culture.” Believe it or not, many aspects of our culture are directly related to this special perk. Here are a few of the reasons for that statement and perhaps a few questions you should ask yourself as a business owner:

1. How much more innovative and exciting would your business be if every single team member spent one full day each week devoted to research? What insights, new ideas and energy would be pumped into your business?
2. Such a perk is an amazing draw in the age of recruiting the best in talent to your team. Like a hit song, your HR department needs a “hook” to snag the cream of the crop. It will make an incredible difference.
3. Tied into No. 2, your employee retention rate literally soars. Who would ever want to give up three days at home, only commuting four days a week--and the cerebral exercise of weekly research?
4. Even though the team is working 10-hour days, the sense of urgency brings a high level of energy, and, in my opinion, focused collaboration. It is a joy to watch and to be sucked up into.
5. The extra time for research makes for a well-informed team and the realization they have something unique. (Plus, meeting a repairman on a Friday or planning numerous three-day getaways is never taken for granted ...)
6. In our case, Thursday nights after work become an even bigger chance for team socialization and fun. This also seems to be vital to retention rates. A recent study indicated the No. 1 reason for a person not to change jobs is based upon having a close friend at the same company. Sort of makes sense, right?

Add these six reasons along with three or four you likely came up with while reading this blog and you should come to the conclusion that the extra focus, energy, teamwork and dedication resulting from a four-day work week will drive your productivity skyward!  Not a bad outcome for a simple idea.