Lessons from InDebted’s four-day work week

One of the only silver linings of the pandemic is that it forced businesses to think differently about the nature of work and how we do it. With employee burnout increasingly threatening the modern workplace, some businesses like InDebted have endeavored to get on the front foot in the mission to prioritise mental health, wellbeing, and employee happiness.

After seeing clear, tangible benefits from its remote-first model, InDebted decided to go a step further: cue the four-day work week.

In this piece, InDebted founder and CEO Josh Foreman reflects on what the first three months of InDebted’s new way of working has been like, and the impact it has had on the business as a whole.

How did you complete the transition?

Following extensive research and planning, we began with an opt-in pilot program across select teams and closely monitored how the four-day work week affected productivity, happiness, and delivery of quarterly goals. Following resounding positive feedback, we rolled out our company-wide four-day work week via a phased approach and began transitioning teams from September 2021.

To ensure the four-day work week didn’t create or add any additional pressure to our employees, we conducted regular pulse checks; scheduled fewer, more focused meetings; and encouraged asynchronous working tools which have played a big role in facilitating collaboration and efficient ways of working.

Our customers reaped the benefits too as we hired additional resources and built out our global customer experience teams to enable 24/7 customer service through flexible rostering and our modern, machine learning-enabled platform.

What was the reception like from InDebted employees?

As we continue to scale and grow into new and global markets, the four-day work week has had a tangible impact on employee happiness and talent acquisition. In our most recent pulse check survey, 98% of employees reported the four-day work week positively impacts their wellbeing and 92% reported the four-day work week positively affects their productivity. In a highly competitive candidate market, we have received more applicants in the first 45 days since announcing the four-day work week than the preceding four and a half months and our average number of applicants has increased by 283%.

We were also interested to see how employees were using their day off. We pride ourselves on fostering a curious, driven, and entrepreneurial culture and many of our employees have their own businesses and side hustles, from jewellery brands to early-stage startups. We’ve also heard amazing stories of our employees dedicating their extra day to important causes and passions, from climate change to wildlife shelters, and perhaps most excitingly, the ability to spend additional time with family.

What do you think made the change so successful?

Transparent communication and cross-department visibility were, and continue to be, crucial to the success of our four-day work week rollout. For any strategic company-wide initiative to be successful, it is important to strike the balance between careful yet swift planning (including highlighting risks and how to mitigate them), decisive action to launch, follow-through, and a frequent, ongoing, and transparent feedback loop with everyone in the organisation.

If we had our time again, we would have ramped up our talent acquisition sooner to service the open roles required to support our existing teams through the transition, and to ensure we were well resourced to respond to the significant increase in application volumes as a result of the unique differentiator a four-day work week brings.

Transitioning to a four-day work week has proven to be an incredible talent attraction initiative, but first and foremost, it needs to work for existing employees. My advice would be to stay focused on employee happiness, productivity, and autonomy. Measure this constantly and take action on feedback and opportunities for improvement.

Where next from here?

While initial results have exceeded our expectations, we’re still in the early stages of our journey, and we’ll continue iterating and building based on continuous employee feedback and results. A four-day work week might not be suitable for every company, but it’s working for us because of the business and team we have built to date.

I’ve been astounded by the way the InDebted team has adapted to a significant change from the status quo and the success of the policy so far is predominantly down to them. I would encourage others to take a hard look at their businesses and to keep an open mind when it comes to new workplace initiatives — what might seem like a radical transition can be achieved when an entire organisation embraces the change.