Four day work week boosts productivity
“In the spirit of a growth mindset, we are always looking for new ways to innovate and leverage our own technology and to improve the experience for our employees around the globe. Work a short time, rest well and learn a lot” — Takuya Hirano, CEO Microsoft
We work in a competitive environment and sometimes it might be challenging to create a healthy work-life balance which is crucial to boost the overall productivity of employees. However, at the end of the day, it will pay off: increased productivity leads to an increase in the efficiency and quality of services which ensure better profits. Therefore, business strategies should focus on working smarter than longer and investing in the wellbeing of the most important asset — ourselves, the people.
Microsoft started a pilot project and tested out a four-day workweek in its Japan offices. As a result, employees were not only happier — but significantly more productive. More particular, the productivity jumped by 40%. The CEO Takuya Hirano stated that he wants to challenge the employees while trying out something new: „I want employees to think about and experience how they can achieve the same results with 20% less working time.” Because of the shorter workweek, the company put its meetings on a diet: the standard duration for a meeting was slashed from 60 minutes to 30 — an approach that was adopted for nearly half of all meetings. Microsoft Japan said there was often no reason for meetings to run an hour, or to tie up multiple people from the same team. Moreover, Harvard Business Review published a project including shorter workdays (from 8-hour work days to 6-hour workday) which confirmed an increased productivity and therefore, overall happiness.
All in all, the pilot project led to more efficient meetings and happier workers who took less time off. While the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged everyone the way to think, live and work in new ways, remote working, part-time working, co-working and other hybrid concepts gain more and more importance. It inspires me to start thinking out of the box and come up with new ways to innovate and leverage the work experience.
What I really like about this project is that it focuses on the employees’ fundamental wellbeing. This example shows that companies do not have to invest heavily to make a change — what matters is the design of how people think in order to face an issue.
