Donkey kick to the 5-day grind: Sherbz’s 4-day workweek experiment

Hybrid first

We began initially with rolling out hybrid working with a two-day remote, three-day in-office system from Easter. While this was popular with staff, with savings being made on fuel with fewer journeys to the office, it did mean some days the office felt like a ghost town – with more people working from home than in the office!

Hybrid working wasn’t impacting work levels, as most people agreed they weren’t any less productive at home than in the office.

“I could be sitting in the office with headphones on, doing the same as in my house or even on the moon. Personal productivity will still be the same. It’s all down to the person and their work ethic” said James (Content Writer)

However, as a creative agency, and working closely interdepartmentally, it did put a downer on the creative vibe of bouncing ideas off others and being able to get up and talk to those working on the same project – rather than waiting for a response on Slack!

Changing work-scapes

In 2022, 61 companies in the UK moved employees to a four-day workweek, with no reduction in pay, as part of a six-month trial being researched by academics from top universities. Since that time, 89% are still operating the policy a year later. Around this time, Belgium became the first country to legislate for a four-day week, where employees are allowed to choose to work a four- or five-day week – bearing in mind the four days would be longer.

The study found the four-day week saves businesses thousands of £££ as workers are happier and more productive on the four days, and that retention and recruitment have improved. The study discovered employees were 78% less stressed and reported improvements in physical and mental health as well as general work-life balance.

Not many digital marketing agencies have tried a 4-day work week, but Sherbz has always been one to blaze a trail in the industry.

Starting the trial

Loki, our Managing Director, began by taking every other Friday off because, in his words:

“I was tired after working mental hours for 18 years. I found that having the extra day at a weekend helped me feel more productive, more focussed and massively less stressed.”

He wanted to see if it would do the same for the rest of the team, so decided to roll out the trial from the start of July offering the company the option to join in if they wanted.

The trial began in July with around half the company opting to work Monday – Thursday nine-hour days and have a three-day weekend. At an all-agency meeting at the start of August staff taking part shared what they had been using their Fridays for and how they were benefitting from the extended weekends.

Team response

Many reported working longer days Monday to Thursday had taken some getting used to, but the payoff in longer weekends has been a resounding success. Different staff have fed back:

“Having Fridays off has given me the chance to get ahead of decorating my new home and preparing the baby’s nursery before October comes around! Plus, I get to spend the afternoon with my other half.”

Charlie O (SEO Specialist)

“It’s nice to have a day to do errands without feeling I’m sacrificing a weekend. I’m able to do park run more often on Saturdays as I’m not as tired at the end of the week and I no longer ask myself on Sundays, ‘Where did the weekend go?’. Come the start of basketball season I can stay up on Thursday nights to watch Miami Heat play at 2 am!”

Julio (Content Writer)

“I’m really enjoying it. It’s nice to go swimming in the afternoon, like an OAP – it feels like time travelling when I get two Sundays”

Ash (SEO Specialist)

Where next?

With the rest of the company joining the trial in August, the general feeling seems to be that the experiment has been a resounding success. With a team day out at the end of the week, you’ll have to watch this space to see where Sherbz goes with the four-day week experiment… what IS certain, is that there’s been no lessening of SEO efforts on behalf of our clients and no slacking off on website projects being designed, written and developed.

If you’re looking for a cutting-edge digital marketing agency for your SEO, PPC, website design and build or content writing services, then get in touch with our friendly team for a chat to find out how we can be part of your own success story.