Environmental consultancy and B Corp firm Tyler Grange operates a four-day work week with a difference: each employee must spend undertake at least some voluntary work to benefit the local community or wider causes.
Simon Ursell, managing director, says: “When we started the business 13 years ago, one of the first things on the agenda was giving something back.”
Employees have always been able to choose to take a paid day a month off work to work on voluntary initiatives, but this became more of a formal commitment when the four-day-week came in in 2022.
“It’s whatever they want to do, but they have to volunteer,” says Ursell. “Where parents have young children, we consider that to be voluntary community work because it helps those children have access to a parent, so it’s a very broad range.”
The organisation employs 85 people across six offices, and has pledged to collectively contribute 10,000 hours a year towards good causes. To date, initiatives have included working with Farms for City Children in the South-West, delivering aid supplies to Ukraine, and helping children in the east end of London learn about mindfulness, for which Ursell himself volunteers his time.
Both employees and the business have benefited from the initiative, adds Ursell. “Once people get into it, they absolutely love it and bring back lots of transferable skills and meet interesting people.”
There have been people who have not fully bought into the concept, he concedes, and these individuals have tended to move on. “We have a distinct culture and set of values at Tyler Grange, and we’re quite insistent around it,” he adds. “A lot of people choose to work here because they can volunteer. It’s been a huge benefit for us.”