We're introducing a 4-Day Work Week

We’re thrilled to be launching a 4-day work week trial for all staff at Evolved and supporting the cause for improved employee wellbeing.

The concept of the 4-day work week has been featured widely in the media recently, following reports that Iceland’s successful 4-year trial of working 4 days per week resulted in employees feeling happier, more focused, and more productive.  Trials are now ongoing in Spain and New Zealand. 

We’ve been inspired by success stories and it’s always been a goal of ours to implement something like this.

Our Operations Director, Tom Etherington, explains: “Through continued growth and bringing in the right people and clients to work with, we’ve found that we’re able to offer more flexibility to staff and it’s exciting to be adopting this approach.

“We’ve been working from home since March 2020 and after some difficult months, our team now have a better work-life balance and are able to get on and do their best work due to less time in the office. 

“We know that we’ll need to adapt as it’s a significant change for a 50+ person business, but the last 18 months, in particular, have shown that we’re more than capable of this.”

Our new 4-day week will run from the start of August 2021 through to the end of January 2022 – 6 months overall – to gather data on staff wellbeing, efficiency, and more. Should it be successful, our senior management team anticipates a permanent roll-out of the approach. 

Evolved Search employees will work 32 hours per week instead of their current 35 contracted hours, and there will be no loss of pay or staff benefits. Equally, individuals can choose to work 32 hours over 5 days, and therefore, shorter days if that suits them better. 

What does this mean for staff?

Well, a lot more flexibility and time for themselves.

We’ve been consistently improving our staff perks and this adds another dimension to the concept of flexible working.

Staff will hopefully be able to enjoy longer weekends, design their week in a way that fits their personal circumstances, and ultimately find a better balance between work and life.

Our Head of People, Sinead Hall, said: “The pandemic has highlighted what many of us in HR already knew – people work in different ways and a good employer’s role is to allow them the freedom and flexibility to do their best. 

“As we prepare to return to more normality and update our policies to allow staff to work between their homes and our office, it seemed like the best time to roll this initiative out.

“With a shortening of the working week and enabling our people to design a way of working that complements their personal life, we hope to improve employee satisfaction, maintain our high levels of staff retention, and attract new people from a wider range of backgrounds.”

What does it mean for clients?

We are updating all of our clients on the trial and have plans to ensure there will be no difference to the services they receive from Evolved.

We already have a flexible working policy that allows staff to take time off in lieu (TOIL) throughout the month, with processes in place to provide adequate cover and resources across all of our accounts.

We are excited to see the impact on productivity and confident that our clients will not only share this feeling, but the benefits too.

Did we mention we’re hiring? If you’d like to take on a challenging, rewarding new role with perks aplenty, check out our Careers!