How would you like an extra day off every single week for the rest of your working life without any cut in your pay? You’d probably love it, right? Who wouldn’t?
Well, employers wouldn’t love it, might be an instinctive answer to that question.
But what if they were told that by giving you that extra day off every single week for the rest of your working life, they would actually make more money and make their workplace a happier and more stress free place to be?
They’d probably be happy enough with that outcome too.
In 2018, New Zealand business man Andrew Barnes decided to turn an idea he had on a long haul flight into an actual experiment in the company he owned. He gave everyone he employed a day off every week on the understanding they would be just a bit more focussed on the days they were at work.
The HR people and the money people in his business said he was crazy, as crazy as his notion, in fact.
But it turned out that his notion wasn’t crazy at all. It actually worked. He gave his staff a lot more time off and they responded by working harder and better. They became happier.
But Barnes did not stop there. He wanted to share his working week revolution with the world. And so a global movement was born.
Four years on and a massive trial examining the benefits of a four-day working week is being carried out across the UK. Trials are also underway in other countries.
But surely it can’t happen? Surely if something seems too good to be true, then it is too good to be true? Or is this one of those rare occasions when everyone wins at absolutely no cost to anyone?
Barnes talks to In The News about his bonkers notion which could actually change our world.
