Are you familiar with the acronym 4dww?
If you work in tech, you’re a lot more likely than most to know what it means.
A number of tech companies are leading the charge into a new dawn that is the four-day work week.
The growing movement gives a whole new meaning to the more well-worn TGIF acronym.
You can hear the cheers from the cubicle banks to the increasingly popular at-home offices. Even some in the C-suite are waving their pom-poms.
Some of the reasons for the movement’s growing support might surprise you.
Among the firms that have adopted a 4dww are talent assessment firm Wonderlic (if you follow the NFL draft, you’re familiar with this firm); social media firm Buffer; The Wanderlust Group, which builds tech-driven marketplaces to help adventurers visit and access different travel destinations; social impact accelerator Uncharted; software firm Wildbit; and sports and wellness software firm Volt Athletics.
The above list is all good and well, but those are all relatively small and nimble companies. And to be honest, it’s difficult to argue they have the mite to flip an industry-wide switch on such a dramatic change.
That’s why Forbes this month called the recent move to a 4dww by Japanese electronics giant Panasonic, Microsoft Japan and San Francisco-based Bolt, a fast-growing fintech unicorn, a potential “tipping point for businesses to join the growing movement.”
Some have got religion about the 4dww movement, and Yaw Aning – co-founder of Hoosier marketing tech firm Malomo – could be considered a high priest.
Aning, CEO of the firm that has created a software package that lets businesses weave marketing messages into shipment notifications and updates, isn’t afraid the move will reduce his employees’ productivity.
In a recent blog, Aning explains that Malomo’s move to a four-day work week started with the idea of giving employees a chance to rest and recharge. Then it turned into something else.
“We are a people-first, remote-first business. For most of us, that means we are working and living in the same space,” Aning says. “This blurs the lines of work and life and can lead to working a lot. So, we dubbed last September (2021) Malomo’s Mental Health Month and gave our team every Friday off to rest and recharge ahead of the intense holiday season. The results were quite impressive.”
In comparison to the prior eight months, Malomo
- signed the highest number of new customers;
- onboarded the most revenue;
- generated the most marketing leads ever; and
- made a very significant product milestone.
“And our employees loved it,” he stresses.
All but one or Malomo’s employees reported having more time to explore personal and family interests, 70% reported they were more productive, 90% reported the company’s one-month trial of the 4dww served them well and 91.3% were equally or less stressed than usual.
Still, Aning understands the hesitancy of joining the movement.
“I believe the mixed emotions people feel about having a four-day workweek has a lot to do with being conditioned to work five days a week,” Aning says. “There’s some guilt in working just four days when everyone else works at least five. However, at Malomo, we’ve always been more focused on quality of work, and not the quantity of time spent working.”
So Malomo extended its trial to the first six months of this year.
Aning admits there are challenges. First, what to do about customers who work traditional work weeks?
“If urgent needs arise from our customers, we’ll treat them as such,” Aning stresses. “Our service to customers will remain the same five days per week. We will continue to monitor our support channels on Fridays and respond to critical issues. Serving our customers well is priority one.”
Aning says he is confident that once this six-month trial at Malomo is over, it will be extended indefinitely. It’s reasonable to assume that others in the super-progressive, pivot happy tech sector will follow.
Companies in more hands-on sectors and cognitively rigid executives are likely to be more resistant. But the pandemic has changed almost everything and made businesses willing to consider changes that were before unthinkable. Most, even if grudgingly, will admit the forced change has been good for employee attraction and retention, a major point of consideration for any company right now.
If remote work and flexible schedules are a drawing card, just imagine what a 4dww would do.
Anthony Schoettle is the director of communications for the Indiana Chamber. He started with the Chamber in 2021 after a long career in journalism. He’s won multiple awards for his storytelling ability on a wide range of business topics.