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Since April of last year, Primary has been experimenting with a 4-day work week. After prodding from some friends, as well as enough time with it, I feel like it's finally a good moment to talk about it, why we did it, and how it's going...
We'd actually been kicking around the idea in late 2019, but weren't sure when it would make sense to try something like that out. Then, COVID. After a month of quarantine, the burnout and stress on the team was palpable.
Grocery lines were a mile long on the weekends, people's kids were stuck at home with them, and on top of that we were all trying to do our jobs and keep the business steady in one of the most insane moments in time ever.
The leadership team talked about what to do, and the idea came up to try giving folks a couple Fridays off so they could grocery shop, run errands, and just have more time to decompress and take care of whatever they needed to.
We started with alternating weeks in April and it went super well. Everyone was grateful, including all of us on the leadership team, and came back the following week with more energy and enthusiasm. So, we decided to try it again for the entire month of May.
And it worked again! Over the course of last year we kept renewing that schedule for longer and longer periods. The business wasn't just surviving, but thriving. And the team was still delivering. We even launched a full rebrand!
At the end of last year, we decided to stay at a 4-day week going forward. It doesn't mean we won't ever rethink or reexamine it, but it's been great for our team and, as a result, great for our business. It feels special to get to try something like this and see the results.
Speaking personally, I think more people should be having conversations about what we've all agreed on as the standard way of working. Right now that's mostly focused on remote processes and team building, but there's so much more to explore and challenge.
I don't know if a 4-day week is right for every business and every situation, but if we were ever gonna get more creative about working and building businesses together, now's the time.
Finally, I'm happy to answer questions about it, but also have a lot going on today, so please be patient!
