The idea of a four-day workweek has caught on, and the Qwick task platform is the latest to test the idea. The Phoenix, Arizona-based company today launched a pilot project for most of its 200 employees, with the goal of improving staff wellness and even productivity.
The five-day, 40-hour workweek has been the norm for most workers since the early 19th century. Although there have been calls for a shorter week for decades, the idea has yet to gain mainstream acceptance. But companies are increasingly taking it into account after the COVID-XNUMX pandemic, which has forced many companies to review their labor practices. Unilever, Bolt and Kickstarter are among the companies that have recently tested the idea or adopted it permanently.
At Qwick, workers will go from the typical five-day, 38-hour week since the company launched in 2018 to 32 hours a week spread over four days. (Employees will receive the same pay as a five-day week.) The test, which applies to full-time Qwick employees, will run until July 2022.
Qwick employees manage a variety of common business roles, including sales, marketing, finance, and IT. Account managers and operational staff also interact with customers and Qwick hospitality workers (or "business partners" and "professionals" as Qwick calls them) as part of their online recruiting activity. Most of the employees involved in the trial will now work Monday through Thursday, though some will work weekends on a rotating basis to accommodate customer needs.
Qwick co-founder and CEO Jamie Baxter hopes a shorter work week will bring a variety of benefits, including reducing burnout, while helping the fast-growing company retain and attract top talent in a tough job market. . "We're really looking for three things from that: increased productivity, increased creativity and increased employee well-being," Baxter said.