Can a 4 day work week really work?

 Hello from beautiful Mangawhai where my partner and I are enjoying the New Zealand summer weather in our caravan.

We're heading back home to Auckland today (Monday) which means that both of us will be working a half day today and we did a half day on Friday to get here.

It just occurred to me that that's how simple it is for me to implement a 4-day work week. Three full days and 2 half days. 

I've been talking about a 4 day work week with my clients quite a lot lately because New Zealand has a whole bunch of public holidays at the beginning of the year, and losing a day a week of productivity and income can be stressful. 

A 4 day work week could be a great solution to this. If your workload can be done within 4 days a week, losing a day to a public holiday won't have the same stressful consequences.

I've been intrigued by the concept of a 4 day work week for a while now, ever since a school friend of mine became part of the now-quite-famous 4 Day Week project which had some startling results.

To be clear, I'm not talking about reducing a day and correspondingly reducing the pay to 80%.

"The 4 day week is a reduction in the work week from a standard 40 hours to 32 hours for the same pay and benefits. According to the 4 day week team, this reduction has been proven to work for employees and employers."

I think we bookkeepers could be quick to judge and say "a 4 day work week will never work for me" or "that won't work in my industry." After all, most of the studies have been done within corporate environments. How would it work for small businesses?

But look a bit closer and maybe you'll find that it can indeed be done.

I work with bookkeeping businesses that are in expansion mode, and the bookkeeper-owner of the business will often say that it's hard to find good bookkeepers to hire.

In my experience that is often true. Those ideal team members are out there, no question, but increasingly the future looks like bookkeeping businesses competing hard for staff and/or contract bookkeepers.  

However, some of the stats from the studies are that 63% of businesses found it easier to attract and retain talent with a 4 day week, and that 78% of employees with 4 day weeks are happier and less stressed.

Maybe a 4 day work week will make your role more attractive and thus enable savvy bookkeeping business owners like you to hire well.

I don't have all the answers yet, and undoubtedly there is quite a lot to consider should you be thinking about implementing this.

Committing to this will take an intriguing mindset shift and a good hard look at:

• how you're pricing your services
• how you're delivering your services
• how productive and efficient your business is
• your leadership and business culture

The truth is, I've inadvertently been working towards this myself for a while now. I don't usually book meetings or coaching sessions on Mondays or Friday afternoons. I like to ease into and out of my weeks. 

Instead, I usually focus on marketing and planning on Mondays (#MarketingMondays) and professional development and my own accounts on Fridays (#FinancialFriday).

Learning and personal growth are some of my top life values, so I'll never forgo professional and personal development. But it doesn't really feel much like work (bright-shiny-things, anyone??), and most of my professional development can be done online from wherever, whenever inspiration strikes.

 I'm curious to know if you've thought about moving to a 4 day work week, without reducing your pay, or if you've even already started down this path.

Or do you think this is completely out of left field and I'm crazy to even be suggesting it?  

Either way, I'd love to hear from you. Just email me here.

Have a great day!