Gave my team a 4-day work week for 3 months and our numbers went up

I run a 40-person tech group in Austin and we tried a 4-day work week from January to March. I thought we'd see a drop in output, but our project completion rate went up 18%. Some senior folks said it forced better focus, but others worry about client calls on the 'off' day. I learned that clear rules about that fifth day are key, but I'm still torn on making it permanent. Has anyone else run a long test like this and seen real gains hold up?

2 comments

2 Comments

ninab958h ago

You mentioned clear rules about the fifth day are key. What specific rules did you actually set? Like, were client emergencies allowed, or was it a total blackout day? I'm trying to picture how that works in practice without just shifting the work to a different day.

lilyo302h ago

Started with a total blackout for the first month to prove the point internally. After that, we defined a client emergency as something that would literally stop their business from operating that day, which happened maybe twice a year. The key was having a partner cover that day so calls rolled to them, preventing the work from just bouncing back to me on Monday.