A HERO boss has given all of his staff a four day week but still pays them for five because it boosts morale.
Martyn King, managing director of Fuel, started the four-day week trial earlier this month in a bid to make staff more relaxed and productive.
1
The company from Plymouth, Devon, provides market insights into major businesses such as Google and Meta.
Fuel plans to operate under its new model until March 2023 as part of a six month trial which has so far seen revenues soar by 107 per cent.
Although staff will have to work one day less, a new scheduling system means the company still operates five days a week.
Lucky workers will receive the equivalent of a 9 per cent pay rise in their hourly rate, introduced alongside pay rises to combat the cost of living.
Generous boss Martyn called the project an “extension” of the hybrid working environment that Fuel adopted during the pandemic.
The only trade off is that workers will begin at 8am, working until the usual 5pm.
But this still sees a net loss of 3 hours work per week for staff.
Martyn launched the programme following months of talks between the business and clients, along with its workforce and reviews of similar ongoing projects.
Most read in Money
He said: “It’s certainly boosted morale in the office, we’re now in our third week of it.
“There definitely was a period of adjustment though, we prepared well for it – but people are starting to adjust from working a five-day working pattern to four.
“It’s going well, but of course it is a big adaptation from the five-day model people have worked their entire careers.
“We’ve increased our opening hours across the week for our clients, because we provide a lot of ecommerce work it’s quite important to have people on hand all the time.”
The boss explained how the company has two teams so that the shorter working week is feasible.
He continued: “But also, we effectively have two teams. On a Wednesday 50 per cent of people have their rest day, and on a Friday the other 50 per cent have theirs.
“We have a close buddying system to match staff together, so that the skillset we have on at any one time is always complimentary so we always have the same range of skills available to our clients.
“It’s a trial and it’s aimed at making sure people are more relaxed and more productive, so we’ll need to run the trial through fully.
“We’re a busy agency though, so we’ll need to adapt and then see if we’ll maintain it in six months.”
Fuel has been working with Plymouth-based firm Portcullis Legals which became the first business in the country to adopt a four day week – and gave them a pay rise.
The legal firm became the first in the country to receive a Gold Standard four-day week employer accreditation from the 4 Day Week Campaign after switching in May 2019.
It comes after another set of generous bosses gave all their staff a £600 bonus to help them through the cost-of-living crisis.
