Priority 4
Consider new ways to streamline work
Working smarter now requires a more personalised approach.
Priority 4
Consider new ways to streamline work
Working smarter now requires a more personalised approach.
“Instead of following the crowd, employers should develop bespoke ways to work smarter. Analyse your bottlenecks and disruptors before deciding on the best way to streamline.”
Magnus Eklöv - Business Solution Manager
How to re-align for the perfect match
We asked Magnus Eklöv - Business Solution Manager
The 4-day workweek is a trending topic that continues to gather steam as more early adopters convince the rest of the business world that a change in working hours doesn’t need to slow down productivity.
Our research shows that by now, 35% of companies are considering a 4-day week to improve work-life balance. But in reality, it’s unlikely that such a sweeping, buzzworthy policy shift is the one best solution for existing productivity or wellbeing challenges at your organisation.
Instead of following the crowd, employers should develop bespoke ways to work smarter. The first place to start is by doing your due diligence, analysing your unique in-company bottlenecks and disruptors before deciding on the best way to streamline.
A better way for you to improve flexibility and efficiency might be restructuring roles and responsibilities or enabling job-sharing and more part-time work. It might even be as simple as discouraging unneeded meetings.
3 tips for tailored flexibility
1. Take a cross-functional approach to streamlining operations
- Engage representatives from a variety of teams and departments to collectively identify inefficiencies in your current working structure.
- Consider the best ways to support groups such as parents, recent graduates, long-standing employees and more. A responsive personnel planning tool can help you balance their diverse needs.
2. Evaluate operational and customer service impact
- Consider any changes to employee hours and availability would have an impact on day-to-day operations and customer service, including response-times on asynchronous channels like email.
- Any business transition has the potential to create friction, so it’s important to expect challenges along the way and champion a problem-solving approach.
3. Start with a pilot programme to refine as you go
- Begin with small-scale pilot programmes to test the feasibility of a 4-day workweek or other initiatives to promote work-life balance.
- Collect feedback regularly throughout the pilot to assess the impact on productivity and employee wellbeing. Use the insights you’ve gained to refine and enhance your approach before implementing broader organisational changes.
