Newcastle, UK-based marketing agency Evolved Search has introduced a four-day working week as part of a six-month trial.
According to the agency, the move is a result of employees now having a better work-life balance while working from home, which in turn has had a positive impact on client results and overall efficiency. There will be no loss of pay or benefits for those taking part, and they will work 32 hours each week instead of their current 35 contracted hours.
The trial will take place from August 2021 through to the end of January 2022, and will gather data on employee wellbeing and efficiency throughout.
Tom Etherington, operations director at Evolved Search, explained that through continued growth and bringing in the right people and clients, the business found that it was able to offer more flexibility to employees.
“It’s exciting to be adopting this approach. We know we'll need to adapt as it's a significant change for a more than 50-person business, but the past 18 months in particular have shown that we're more than capable of this,” he said.
Sinead Hall, head of people at Evolved Search, added that the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic had highlighted that everyone works in different ways, therefore the agency is allowing staff the freedom and flexibility to do their best work as it prepares to return to more normality. It is also updating its policies to allow all employees to work between home and the 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 compliments their personal life, we hope to improve employee satisfaction, maintain our high levels of talent retention, and attract new people from a wider range of backgrounds,” Hall said.
