Mixing-up How Researchers Work: Living The 4-Day Working Week with The Mix
This three-part series breaks down the shift toward a four-day workweek. We track its history from Henry Ford to Nixon, analyze successful UK trial data, and go behind the scenes with The Mix to see how they made the transition a reality.
In yesterday's article, we learned how The Mix, an insight agency with offices in the UK and USA adopted the 4-Day Working Week (4DWW). Today, we’re going to understand what the reality of this new way of working is.
From concerns to client curiosity
Despite an initial concern during their 3-month experiment that working a 4DWW would risk their client relationships, The Mix discovered something to the contrary. Working a 4DWW deepened the strength of their relationships with their current clients, who were in founder Tash Walker’s words “universally incredibly supportive of it.”
Walker suspects that The Mix’s clients felt that the shift leant into the agency’s values of being a people-based organization. While recognising that the humanity behind the way of working – putting people first. To the extent that clients were willing to help The Mix uphold the promises they’d made to their employees by respecting the fact that they couldn’t have meetings on a Friday.
At the heart of getting clients to buy-in was ensuring that The Mix’s shift in working patterns was well communicated. By focussing on this, what The Mix found was that clients were incredibly curious about the 4DWW.
The 4DWW as a client/talent magnet
Winning over existing clients with a new way of working is one thing. But how did new, potential clients react when they heard The Mix worked a 4DWW?
Walker’s sense was that especially in the US, clients focus on if an agency can get the work done. Not how and on what days. Although, she also recognises that the post-Covid reconfiguration of working patterns has meant that the world in general is more open minded about different ways of working.
On top of this, working a 4DWW reinforced to new clients that The Mix are a people first organisation. With the 4DWW showing they are putting their money where their mouth is on the matter.
One area where the 4DWW has allowed The Mix to win over new people, is attracting talent. The 4DWW is a signal that they operate in a more human way. Especially in the US where employees are offered much less holiday compared to the UK.
So, the 4DWW didn’t lose The Mix clients existing or potential clients. It earned the support of their existing client base. And it made them an attractive employer. But what did this new way of working mean for how The Mix’s employees acted a day-to-day basis?
New habits for a new way of working
The Mix recognise that “the 4DWW isn’t easy to accomplish, and it definitely requires choices”. These choices meant making decisions about how to run efficient internal meetings and how to declutter people’s working week so they can get things done efficiently.
That may not be surprising. But what stood out to The Mix was how quickly all the new ways of working went from being novel and exciting to being totally normal.
When I asked if The Mix got any external help from organisational psychologists or workplace coaches to help form the habits to adapt to a 4DWW, Walker’s reply was simple:
“We're a people-first organization. Our day job involves identifying problems and influencing people. And these were skills vital to implementing a 4DWW”.
The benefits
Another core part of The Mix’s professional skillset is measurement and tracking. So, suffice to say they monitored the impact switching to the 4DWW had on their business. They noticed a 75% reduction in sick days. Higher retention rates. And growth of top and bottom-line revenue.
Those are of course hard metrics. But there were softer benefits too. Best explained by Walker as:
“The little burst of dopamine you get when you wake up on a Friday and think: “I could do some work. But I don’t have to.” And that’s something everyone in the business gets – all the way up from new graduates to the leadership team.”
Tomorrow – learn about how The Mix see the future of the 4DWW.
You can find out more about how The Mix adopted and now use a 4DWW via their ‘Four: What is it good for?’ report here.
Jack Miles
Editor in Chief at Research WorldJack specialises in quantitative research for international clients across an array of sectors. These studies have led him to work with brands such as Jaguar, Navistar and Volvo. His main research interests are brand research and consumer trends, with a focus on quantitative methods and the use of statistics to derive solid strategic planning for clients.
He has a particular focus on developing creative ad-hoc quantitative methods that use a range of data sources. He can also be found writing papers for a range of well-known publications such as Admap, Huffington Post and Research World.
Outside the office, Jack can be found training in martial arts, in which he holds a 3rd degree black belt in Taekwon-do, and partaking in various endurance sports.
