Crowdfunding company Kickstarter has been one of many to experiment with the concept of a four-day workweek.
Kickstarter joined over 30 companies across Australia, Ireland and the U.S. to test out a shorter work week with the help of nonprofit organization 4 Day Week Global.
Popularized by the shift to flexible and hybrid work models, Kickstarter and others allowed employees to work Monday through Friday, eight hours a day, with no change in pay. The result?
“We saw that we were doing a better job of hitting our goals after adopting a four-day workweek,” said Jon Leland, chief strategy officer at Kickstarter.
Not only did workers self-report increased productivity under this model, but employees also stated feeling more engaged and rested, making it easier for the company to attract new talent and retain their staff.
The study so far has found that two-thirds of workers felt less burned out under the new arrangement, while their mental and physical health saw great improvements.
“If you talk to anyone in most five-day-a-week jobs, they will tell you five ways that their current job wastes their time, right?” said Leland. “So it’s about having that conversation with everyone and getting everyone pulling in the same direction to resolve those issues. Because everyone’s motivated—it’s about just getting your time back, and not creating more time to do more work.”
