Why Luscii trials a 4-day work week: Fridays off, same salary, more fun, same goals.
At Luscii we do things a bit differently and challenge the status quo. That’s why we are introducing a four-day work week for our full-time employees. They will have all Fridays of while salaries remain the same. It will bring us more fun while we reach the same goals as in five days. At least, that is what we expect as the result of a trial that started this month. In this article we will tell you why and share our expectations. And of course, when the trial is done, we share the results.
Our 4-day work week
Anne Pasdeloup is the People Lead Link at Luscii. Her role accounts for a great atmosphere within the company, ensuring that employees work as a team and stay healthy. When someone with a local accent rings the doorbell during our conversation, she calls Joris, her partner, who also works at Luscii. This scenario is typical of the organisation. Within Luscii, everyone is allowed to work whenever they want and from wherever they choose. Since the Corona crisis, our office in Amsterdam has in fact closed its doors permanently. For Anne and Joris, this offered the perfect incentive to exchange their apartment in the capital for a detached house and a large garden in a rural setting.
The remarkable thing is that it was precisely in the period without an office that the company experienced enormous growth. Corona caused a quick uptake of digital health across many geo’s. Together with hospitals, Luscii rapidly developed several digital programs to bring care to patients instead of having hem come to the hospital, both in Europe and Africa.
Not hours but output and happiness counts
“The fact that we have been so decisive in the past year is mainly because we are a relatively small but effective team that works without a hierarchy”, says Pasdeloup, who is a trained psychologist. “At Luscii, we use the Holacracy self-steering model, in which everyone has their own responsibilities. As a result, there are hardly any large meetings. Coordination takes place one-on-one or in small groups. The absence of managers boosts efficiency significantly. Of course, we still see each other as a team regularly, but mainly to do fun things. A virtual wine tasting, for example, or an online escape room”.
Initially, Luscii wanted to remove restrictions on the number of vacation days. So employees could decide for themselves when and how long they wanted to be free. Unfortunately, legislation does not allow that. That’s why the four-day working week was chosen. “We hope that this will create space for relaxation, creativity and personal development,” said Pasdeloup. “We are not at all concerned with the number of hours you work. The most important thing is that you are of value, and the best ideas often arise when you are not consciously engaged in your work”.
This idea, that not the exact hours count but the output and happiness of the team, is exactly what companies expect from a four-day work week. It gives employees time to relax, exercise, be creative and work on personal development whereas at the same time during work days they can become more effective so the same goals will be reached in less days. In that sense, it is a ‘win-win’ for both the company as well as the employees. As a fast growing company, now active across two continents, it is a perfect fit for a culture of freedom, creativity and personal development that Luscii has.
“Freedom sparks energy”
In any case, Loes Vecht is happy with the four-day work week. She is one of the doctors that work full time at Luscii and helps hospitals develop digital care paths. “I get to enjoy a long weekend every week. It’s fantastic that Luscii is doing this. I already had a lot of freedom to organise my work as I saw fit, but that is only going to increase even more. It demonstrates so much trust and appreciation”.
For Loes, this does mean she has to be stricter with herself. “I can no longer attend every meeting. So I really have to start setting priorities, but that’s probably the idea, to slow myself down a bit. Clients are surprisingly understanding in that respect, almost everyone thinks it’s a great initiative by Luscii”. In order to help employees at Luscii to make this kind of choices, Luscii introduced the concept of accountability partners. With this buddy-like system employees coach each other to only focus on those things that are really important so the fifth day is not needed anymore.
Another problem for Loes is that there is no longer an excuse not to exercise. “Indeed, whereas other colleagues immediately went on holiday for a long weekend, I started running. I am actually a cyclist, but it’s still too cold for that. I’m also going to use the available time for my re-registration as a doctor and for learning Spanish. But if there is an urgent job, I am always there. That’s how we all are at Luscii, the involvement of colleagues is incredible here”.
This feeling of Loes represents the team at Luscii quite well. There is a culture in which everyone is committed to the mission of the company. Both Anne and Loes therefore know that they themselves as well as their colleagues will be ‘there’ when needed. Even if at some moments this means that more hours are needed, like what happened during the super-quick uptake of Luscii during the first corona wave. During these months employees sometimes worked 20 hours a day and the whole team stood shoulder-to-shoulder without any complaint nor manager telling them to do so.
Ten week trial
Now that the four-day work week trial is a fact, only time will tell if it will become a permanent fixture. “Initially, this is a ten-week pilot,” Pasdeloup explains. “We will assess productivity and conduct engagement surveys. How involved do people feel? How is the work/life balance and what are the levels of satisfaction? If it turns out that we can keep reaching the same goals as before ánd people feel happier, we will keep it up. This trial is something that really represents the culture at Luscii. We often say ‘is it safe enough to try?’ And if that is the case, we trial it. In any case, I have every confidence in its success”, says Anne.
Of course results will be shared here in Luscii’s Medium publication so everyone can learn from it.
About this article and the author
Hugo van der Wedden: nurse and medical sociologist. Loves to write stories and helps patients to be more independent. Education is the way to freedom.
