Working four days from Monday to Thursday for no less pay – there has to be some kind of catch, right? Wrong. That’s exactly what we do at Opportunity Green, and after a three-month trial, we can report back that the system is a huge success.

At Opportunity Green, we’re proud to announce that we are now officially a four-day week employer. The four-day week has been gaining momentum in the UK recently, and there’s certainly plenty of evidence to show that it is beneficial.

In the world’s largest trial of the four-day week earlier this year, 61 employers piloted the system, with 56 extending the system when it ended – 18 of which made it a permanent arrangement.

Read our earlier blog ‘5 reasons why we’re moving to the four-day week’, which delves into the research further.

A boost to mental health and wellbeing

We ran a survey before and after our three-month trial, and as today is World Mental Health Day, it seems fitting to first look at the questions we asked staff about their wellbeing. Our data shows that this is one of the biggest boosts, with an overwhelming majority agreeing or strongly agreeing that the four-day week is benefitting their health and wellbeing.

When we asked our employees to tell us what they like most about the four-day week, this was a common theme too.

“I am able to take more time out of my weekend for individual sporting activities, like swimming and cycling, without it impacting the time I get to spend seeing friends and family. I believe the impact this has on my personal life and mental health makes me a more positive person,” says Olivia, our Legal Assistant.

Our Project assistant, Blánaid, agrees saying: “I really felt the mental benefits of the four-day week. I've been able to use my Fridays to work on lots of little personal goals that I had otherwise been putting off, like keeping up with my French classes and community projects, that I otherwise wouldn't have had as much energy for.”

Levelling the playing field

As an employer that puts equality at the heart of its working culture, we embarked on the four-day week in part to help democratise time off, which can mean different things to different people.

For Carly, it means that being a working mother doesn’t affect her prospects. “Whether it was true or not, when I was part-time (at this and in other jobs) I felt like perhaps my colleagues would feel like I wasn’t as committed to the job as them, or that I would get passed up for growth opportunities because I couldn’t commit more time. But now we have a level playing field,” she explains.

“Becoming a parent is so often the start of a lifetime of compromise and of lower earnings potential, particularly for women. For me, the four-day week is a hugely democratising, empowering model whereby I am enabled to contribute, and achieve, just as much as anyone else.”

Aoife, our CEO says this was a big factor in starting the four-day week. “As a woman in her thirties, I’ve seen many friends and colleagues take a pay cut to balance caring responsibilities with work. While this isn’t the solution to everything, I’m really proud that we’ve been able to provide everyone with that extra day without cutting anyone’s pay.”

For our Legal Manager, David, this issue of fairness is one he values.

“I was already working a four-day week to spend a day a week with my young daughter, but moving the whole organisation to a four-day week has taken away some of the pressures that came with that decision - the financial pressures and also the work pressures of being 'part-time'. It allows me to fully focus on Fridays’ most important projects like building sandcastles and collecting leaves,” he says.

One of the groups most impacted by the UK-wide four-day week trial was fathers, who saw the most increase in the time they got to spend with their children. “I wasn’t surprised by this,” says David. “I know from lots of other dads that there remains a workplace pressure to continue to work full-time (which simultaneously adds to the pressure on mums to work part-time). I'm lucky enough to work at an organisation where that isn't an issue, but more companies adopting a four-day week would help to address the problem and bring greater gender balance.”

Adapting to the new system

Despite the many benefits, employers need to be prepared for some of the challenges too. For us, this was about talking to our team before the trial started to find out about their biggest concerns.

Some of the main areas of concern that staff raised before the trial were meetings and admin taking up too much time and coping with busy times and project deadlines. We addressed these issues by agreeing that we wouldn’t book internal meetings on a Wednesday, which has helped to give staff more focus time. We have also addressed how we use team meetings, to ensure that our collective time together is useful and efficient. The graph below shows how the team feels about the impact it has had on their work now the trial is complete.

Aoife admits that it took her a while to embrace the new system. “At first, it was hard to even take a half day on a Friday, but slowly I've built it up to being able to not even check my emails on a Friday,” she says.

“As CEO, there is a lot of pressure (admittedly much self-created) so that extra day to be able to relax and get life admin done is incredible. I mostly use it to go for long walks with our Chief Security Officer (my dog) Roo. I always thought I was efficient, but this process has helped me to develop entirely new ways of working.”

Ana is also finding the four-day week good for focusing her mind on the work that needs to get done during the week and allowing her to properly enjoy the weekend, as she gets to tackle all those "life admin tasks" on Fridays.

“But I am conscious this system wouldn't work everywhere,” she says. “Had the team been understaffed, the workload unmanageable, or if there hadn't been full support from senior management, this experience would've been a positive one. So I'm very grateful for that.”

Flexibility first

Most of us have found that the extra day is giving us more time and space to fit other things into our week, from new hobbies and volunteering to spending more time with family and friends.

This has been especially important for Nuala, who lives a long way from her family.

“Not having family locally, I really value the extra weekend time that the four-day week brings to travel across the country to visit friends and family,” she explains. “I definitely do this more now that it fits within the weekend and doesn't mean a day's annual leave or squeezing into bank holidays.”

Isa also loves the flexibility of our new system. “For me, the extra day off means more time to recharge but also to pursue personal interests that energise me,” she says.

Feeling valued in the workplace

Sabrina, our Project Assistant, picks up on another common theme of feeling valued in the workplace.

“Adopting the four-day work week at OG has been such a positive thing for me. I feel so much more rested, and I value OG as an employer that really cares about its employees. I'm therefore more motivated and productive on Mondays to Thursdays,” she explains.

This is definitely one of the biggest bonuses for me, too. There’s a huge value that comes from working for an employer that trusts its staff to do the job well in the time available and recognises the importance of our lives outside of work. These act as huge motivational drivers – which is evident from how the entire OG team has adapted to our new system.

As Aoife summarises, “I would definitely recommend the four-day week to all businesses thinking of making the change, I love it!”

Want to know more about becoming a four-day week employer? Visit the 4 Day Week website for more information.