Tricerat announced back in August that we would be switching to a four-day workweek beginning in Q4 of 2021. This week marks the official switch to the four-day workweek for all Tricerat employees. The Tricerat leadership team researched for months on the effectiveness of a four-day workweek before announcing the decision to staff. Two of the major reasons supporting the change were the boosts to employee productivity and wellbeing experienced by companies that have adopted this model.
The four-day workweek model is based on the idea that less is more. When employees do not have to work as many hours, they are generally more productive with the time they have. A study from Stanford University showed that productivity per hour sharply decreases when employees are asked to work 50+ hours. Microsoft Japan further illustrated this when they switched to four-day workweek in 2019 and reported an employee productivity boost of 40%. Shorter workweeks indeed boosted productivity among employees but they also improved overall employee wellness.
Researchers in Iceland have been studying the impact of a four-day workweek over the last 5 years. Workers involved in the study participated in reduced hours, (34-36 hour workweeks), while maintaining their same take home pay for a 40 hour week. In their recently published report, the researchers stated that staff “wellbeing increased across a range of indicators.” Some of these included a reduction in perceived stress/burnout and an increase in work-life balance. NPR has even reported that a shorter workweek can help to address the “second shift” many women experience when coming home after work.
Iceland and Japan are just two examples of different countries testing out a four-day workweek. Last month, Scotland announced they would be implementing a four-day workweek trial where workers would experience no loss of pay. Joining Scotland is Spain who also announced a shortened workweek trial earlier this year. Spain’s trial will last 3 years, cutting employee hours down to 32 per week without a loss to their compensation. Adoptions of shorter workweeks are now hitting America as well with Kickstarter planning to dip their toe in the water in 2022.
Tricerat implemented a four-day workweek with a great deal of flexibility. All employee benefits will remain the same and schedules are worked out between staff and their operations manager. The only requirement is that our staff maintains a 32 hour workweek.
Though all Tricerat employees will now be working 32 hours each week, Tricerat’s office will still be open for business the traditional Monday through Friday workweek.
The staff is very excited about the new change at Tricerat and plan to use their newly found free time in all sorts of ways. Tricerat CTO, Hannah Shuman, had this to say to the team before kicking off the change,
I challenge you all to take space with your time off. Recharge with loved ones, explore a hobby you never had the time for, or practice being still.
Tricerat is committed to providing a healthy and productive workplace where all of our employees can thrive. We believe the adoption of the four-day workweek will place Tricerat at the forefront of the modern workplace and give our staff an improved work-life balance.