Switching to a four day working week in August

Four weeks. Four days in a week. For our mental health. For August.

Summer Time: a concept pioneered by the team at Basecamp, and a practice we’re trialling for the first time this year. For all of August, the whole studio will be moving to a four day working week. Simply put, we’re switching our working hours from Monday to Friday, to Monday to Thursday. And when we say four day week, we truly mean a four day week; not cramming five days into four! We’re saving that extra day each week to rest, to rejuvenate, to spend time with family and friends, and to broaden our creative experiences. And, of course, to enjoy summer (if it decides to return!).

It’s been a rollercoaster 15 months or so that have presented different challenges for everyone. Working from kitchen tables, makeshift office spaces and juggling the pressures of homeschooling for months on end has meant that the work-life balance has been thrown out the window. We’ve always championed a healthy work-life balance at UnitedUs, and our Best Place to Work Wellbeing award proves that, and as we officially opened the studio doors this Monday it was nice to feel a little normality (whatever that might mean) returning.

In the run up to the office return, we surveyed the team to understand how everyone has coped and how we can all continue to be resilient in the year ahead. After hours of interviewing, writing and endless discussions with HR leaders from some of the worlds largest organisations to create Aon Health Solutions’ first global campaign, The Rising Resilient, – we’re convinced that this summer is the perfect opportunity to support the wellbeing of our team and the output of our agency by trialling the four day week.

With longer days and sunnier skies, summer feels like a perfect time to introduce the concept of a four day week. Salaries for the team will be unaffected and it’ll be business-as-usual for the rest of the week. We’ll manage our timelines and deliver exceptional work Monday to Thursday as we would normally and make sure your projects, goals and aspirations are continually met over the month.

There is plenty of evidence that suggests happier people perform better on creative problem-solving tasks. Additionally, research from the folks over at MIT indicates that irrespective of how highly creative your team may be, a happier team will always outpace their counterparts. By supporting our team with extra recovery time in the week and the opportunity to enjoy themselves, we hope to see an improvement in mental health and wellbeing, along with increased productivity and even more of those killer creative ideas that you come to us for.

This trial period of working a four day week is something we hope to learn more about the positives of, and be open to the downsides so that we can better understand the future of work in our sector. You, our amazing clients, are a massive part of this conversation and we’ll be reaching out to engage you for thoughts, insights and learnings following this trial period. We’d also welcome any conversation you have around understanding our drivers to trial a four day week for August and how it affects our working relationships in the future.

Ultimately our ambition is to create a happier and healthier team at UnitedUs who are better prepared to deliver outstanding brand experiences that benefit you and your clients. We’ll post what we’ve been up to on our free Friday’s, from new experiences to reconnecting with lost hobbies. As always, if you have any questions please reach out to myself, or any of the Partners at UnitedUs for a chat.