Kacie Foskett and Joe Gilbert from Red Giraffe, a digital marketing agency based in Milton Keynes, join Ben for this discussion on one of the frontiers of flexible working: the four-day work week.
Work-Life Balance
Joe started Red Giraffe a decade ago and has always advocated practices that promote a healthier work-life balance in his role as Managing Director. His thoughts around the four-day working week began at home. His wife was struggling with her workload as a primary school teacher. After seeing how overworking affected her mental health, and how it improved dramatically after she reduced her hours and went part-time, Joe began to see the value of personal time differently.
At a similar time, studies around the four-day week were continuing to emerge. They promoted it as positively impacting the workplace, with minimal impact on productivity. Joe went from idea to implementation in three weeks, beginning a trial period that became official after a month.
Implementing a Four-Day Working Week
On an individual basis, Kacie says that her productivity has increased since moving to the four-day work week. It means she must be more discerning with what she spends her time on. This has also made her more focused on the quality of her work rather than the quantity.
Ben asks if Joe had any qualms about his decision, or if he believed there was any way the implementation could have gone wrong. Joe answers that he doesn’t believe there was any way it could have gone wrong, at least for Red Giraffe.
He ensured all clients knew how the new system would work. He encourages other businesses to try it. The more businesses try it, the more normalised the practice will become. He envisions a world where ‘the weekend’ will eventually refer to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The episode ends with discussing Joe’s book: Base Camp to Boardroom: A Mountaineer’s Guide to Business. It combines Joe’s passions for mountaineering and business for a unique business advice book with innovative insights from his experiences scaling some of the world’s highest peaks.
Watch and listen to the full episode here for a more insightful discussion of different working practices:
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