BioStata’s Journey Towards a Four-Day Work Week
Can a 30 hour work week benefit both employees and organisation?
The concept of a four-day work week has gained traction in public debate in recent years. Challenges with stressed and overworked employees have led many to reconsider how best to organise a work life in a way that allows both employees and productivity to thrive. This has also been a focal point at BioStata. For six months, we have tested a four-day work week ourselves – and now we are ready to implement it permanently.
How Do We Ensure a Better Work-Life Balance in the Life Sciences Industry?
BioStata has long been committed to promoting a flexible working environment, adhering to our motto: “freedom with responsibility.” The aim is to give our employees control over their work schedules and encourage a healthy work-life balance, as it ultimately boosts workplace motivation.
However, increasing challenges in society and within our own industry, including rising stress levels and burnout, have led us to consider if we could do more.
We decided to undertake a six-month trial period to test whether a four-day work week was a sustainable solution for both employees and the company – after all, we are in an industry where experiments, tests, and evidence are key factors.
Primarily, we wanted to explore if a four-day work week would benefit our employees without negatively impacting our customers or disrupting our existing company culture.
It is not by coincidence that we chose to try a four-day work week.
Other companies have tested the model, and in 2023, the research organisation, Autonomy, published a report on a British pilot study in which 61 companies and around 2,900 workers underwent a trial period of a four-day work week with great success.
The results spoke for themselves:
- 39% felt less stressed
- 54% experienced a better work-life balance
- 57% reduction in resignations
- 65% fewer sick days
- 92% of the companies continued with the four-day week after the trial ended
Naturally, this model is not attainable for everyone, and the results are not achieved solely by shortening the work week. Therefore, we also conducted thorough groundwork before starting the trial period.
Implementing the four-day work week involved careful planning and communication.
Firstly, we looked at how to structure the workday to ensure everyone had the time and space for deep focus, so the shorter work week did not cause increased work pressure or negatively impact workplace cohesion.
Secondly, we maintained an open dialogue and held workshops to ensure all team members were aligned with the new working hours.
Ultimately, we organised the trial period as follows:
Every Friday was designated as a day off.
Employees were required to be in the office three out of the four working days – Tuesday was allowed as a remote workday.
The workday was organised according to a specific schedule, which you can see below.
Schedule for Monday – Thursday
- ? -9:15: Focused work
- 9:15-9:30: Break
- 9:30-10:00: Coordination and meetings
- 10:00-11:30: Focused work
- 11:30-12:00: Lunch
- 12:00-14:00: Coordination and meetings
- 14:00-14:15: Break
- 14:15-?: Focused work
The schedule is built around three different time slots: time to focus, time for coordination, and meetings and breaks.
The purpose of allocating specific time slots for meetings was to ensure that employees have time to focus on their work, as it can be difficult and require a great deal of concentration. However, this should not be interpreted as mandatory meeting time; it is merely allocated to minimise distractions and interruptions throughout the day.
Is It Even a Trial Without a Few Errors?
During the trial period, adjustments were made as needed to optimise the setup. Regular check-ins and feedback sessions were held to address any concerns and gather insights from employees about their experiences.
Here, an important learning for us was the significance of involving employees and maintaining clear communication.
A few examples of changes made were the break times, which were adjusted to better suit our employees. Another key aspect was involving the employees in discussions about what they needed to work most efficiently during focus time.
Additionally, flexibility was key to making ongoing adjustments and handling unforeseen situations, which is difficult to avoid when working with data processing for clinical studies.
Upholding a High Level of Service in a Shortened Work Week
Our work involves ensuring our clients have an efficient and successful clinical trial that runs on time, so it was important for us to inform them about the new work structure. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and clients were happy to schedule around the new hours.
However, to ensure our clients still received the support they deserve, we also ensured that a manager was always on duty on Fridays, and if it was crucial for a project to proceed on a Friday, we would, of course, meet this requirement.
The result of the six-month trial was clear: employees were satisfied and experienced improved work-life balance, increased job satisfaction, and higher productivity – and our clients did not experience any impact on service quality.
At the same time, the structured working hours and mandatory office attendance meant that we achieved a more focused and efficient workday, while still allowing for a pleasant and enjoyable work community.
It has been evident to us that we have been able to establish a new working model without compromising our high professional standards. As a result of the successful trial, we are in the process of implementing this model as a permanent part of our business.
Do You Have Any Questions About Our Approach or About Us as a Workplace?
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