Why you should work a four-day week
After a stressful and overbooked few months, I took three days off for a spot of gardening and a lot of wine drinking. It was during one of those sun-soaked afternoons that I decided I’d trial a four-day week for the summer months.
The intention
I settled on Friday for my extra day off. The aim was to give myself a long weekend for maximum relaxation and fun potential. I knew I would use some of the day for chores, but I hoped to spend at least half of it doing something for pleasure.
In terms of the business, I was okay with the fact I would probably work less and earn less. I didn’t want to take on the same amount of work and cram it into four days. For me, that would have been counterproductive and may have affected the quality of my output for clients. I’m lucky to be able to afford this hit in earnings. I don’t have dependents or many financial obligations. After a long pandemic away from family and friends, I was ready to prioritise fun.
This more flexible approach to working life is something we’re seeing more and more of. And I’m only too happy to contribute to the conversation if it means making life less about work and more about enjoying ourselves. When I announced what I was doing on social media it sparked a fair bit of interest, so I figured I’d pull together a blog post to answer your questions.
Let’s dive in.
Time management
Do you always take the same day off?
Nathalie Santa Maria, Katie Uniacke and Louise Péron
I aimed for Friday, but flexed to fit around appointments, clients and social events.
I loved the Friday for giving me that uninterrupted run-up to the weekend and Thursday evening smugness. That said, you know that Monday struggle of getting your brain to fire up? It’s way worse after three days off.
Was it bad enough for me to consider switching to Wednesday or Thursday? For me, no. I’m a sucker for a long weekend. I just balanced my schedule to give myself a gentle start on Monday.
Clients
Have you told your clients?
I didn’t mention it. If it came up, I told them I wasn’t available that day and offered an alternative. As far as I’m concerned, if it doesn’t affect my service, they don’t need to know.
What do you do when a client calls with an urgent need on your day off?
Nancy Marshall, Felicity Wild and Louise Péron
Part of why I didn’t tell my clients was because I didn’t go fully offline. If an email came in, I responded. But only to acknowledge their query and let them know I’d take any necessary action on Monday. For me, this kept the balance between running my business my way and providing a good service to my clients.
I’m lucky that copywriting emergencies are very few and far between. If a long-term client had come to me with an urgent request, I’d have helped them out. But mostly my emails are pretty quiet on a Friday anyway.
Productivity
Did you work longer hours on those four days? Were you more productive? Where did you find time savings?
Hayley Maguire, Giovanna Lester, Ian Winick and Helen Jane Campbell
As I mentioned, my goal wasn’t to cram five days’ work into four. I accepted that my working hours – and therefore my output and earnings – would take a hit. I simply took on less. I accepted fewer client projects, relied on a proofreader to make blog posting more streamlined, and scaled back my social media presence.
In terms of hours, I worked 25% less throughout May to August than I did January to April. In an ideal world that would have been only a 20% drop, but a couple of client projects moved out, giving me a few scheduling issues.
It’s worth pointing out that I’m generally quieter in summer. All my clients seem to go on holiday or at least slow down to a snail’s pace. In 2020, I worked 20% less throughout May to August than January to April, for comparison. So, whilst I did work less, some of this is most certainly down to the summer lull.
Though I wasn’t producing more in less time, I certainly felt more productive knowing I was working to keep a day free.
Is it stressful? Is it worth it?
Some weeks I found it challenging to get everything done. But as time went on, I got used to the new rhythm and the rewards that came with it.
For me, it has absolutely been worth it. I feel like I really made the most of summer and am heading into autumn with a reinvigorated work ethic. I find this more seasonal approach to working life suits me, though I recognise it might not be for everyone.
Do you ever have a little voice that goes “next week is looking really busy, you could just get ahead if you did XXX”?
I didn’t. I’m a rigorous planner and I scheduled tasks into hourly slots so I would always feel confident knowing that every task had its allocated time. Planning ahead is pretty essential to avoid tasks slipping into the day off.
How do you find the time to be so on it with your marketing in those four days?
I would say my marketing took a hit. In particular, my efforts on social media were significantly less than in previous months. As a result, client enquiries dropped by 34% from January–April to May–August. I’ve been consciously ramping things back up for autumn.
Money
Have you raised your prices to make up for the day off or are you happy to take the hit in the name of balance?
I just took the hit. I earnt 32% less throughout May to August than I did January to April. Though this is a little skewed by a very well-paying project in April, it’s a slightly bigger drop than I’d like due to client scheduling changes. That said, I only missed my monthly target in one out of the four months (hi, August), so though earnings were down, it wasn’t drastic.
To me, enjoying a summer seeing people and doing things after Covid and a busy working winter were more than worth it. When I made the decision at the start of May, I was on track to exceed my annual salary goal, so I had that confidence behind me. Even with the slower summer, I’m still ahead of target.
Guilt
Do you feel guilty during your extra day? How do you manage that?
Ian Winick, Mark Dye, Hayley Maguire and Emily Key
Yes, definitely. Here is a non-exhaustive list of the things my inner critic has said to me on my day off:
· You don’t deserve this
· You’re lazy
· You’re missing out on earning to your full potential
· Your business is going to fail
Cheers, brain.
What I will say is it gets easier with time. Designing my own schedule feels like a small act of rebellion against a system that was created long before we were born. Just because things have been this way for centuries doesn’t mean they have to stay that way.
Do you find colleagues/friends/family are sniffy about it? How do you deal with that?
I haven’t noticed any sniffiness. I’ve taken care not to go around screaming about it in front of friends who work traditional hours. I share it on social media because I want to promote a healthy work balance, but that doesn’t mean boasting about it at every turn and certainly not to those in regular employment.
The day off
Did you find it hard to decompress?
Emily Key
Some weeks yes, some weeks no. Much like a normal weekend, it would depend on what work I was doing and how it was going. One thing is for sure, by Saturday morning any thoughts of work were long gone, and it made Sundays feel easier too.
What do you do on your day off?
Emily Key, Dan Richardson and Andie Ho
I did my usual weekend chores (food shop, laundry) in the morning, then luxuriated in the afternoon. I’ve given visiting friends and family my undivided attention, had more time for my hobbies and even registered myself in the Spanish system (not easy).
So, in a nutshell, here are the positives:
· Feel more focused and productive
· Fire up creativity and energy
· Find a balance between work and life
And the downsides:
· Fuzzy Monday morning head x10 (taking a day off midweek is a good option)
· Less time to spend on marketing
· Less earning potential (I don’t particularly see this as a negative but it’s worth mentioning)
How to make your four-day week a success:
· Be available on email or set an out of office
· Plan your time meticulously
· Set intentions so you’re clear on what you want to achieve (or not achieve)
And for the future? Well, I’m back up to five days as we head into autumn. I’m in a phase in my life where I’d like to save money, so it makes sense for me to continue working full time. But I’m so glad to know four-day weeks are do-able and will always be there to fall back on. I feel sure that we’ll be linking up again next summer.
Thank you so much to everyone who sent in questions. If you’d like to chat more, I’m always around on LinkedIn.