Much is made of the work grind, to some that’s expressed as 996, or 9 am to 9 pm six days a week. That sounds a bit grim – and not very conducive to a healthy mind and body, one would suspect. It’s not fair on the team, their family and wellbeing.
We operate a little differently, after analysing work, resourcing, efficiency, and quality of work over more than a decade we’ve settled on 11 am to 4 pm for four days a week – or 1144 as I like to call it.
That’s not to say we don’t work longer, or later into the night. For sure, pressures on time and resources appear now and again, but the basic resourcing model is modelled around 16 to 20 hour week. On the face of it that might seem a luxury (or expensive), but time and time again we’ve shown that most “knowledge work” tapers off in efficiency and quality once past 20 hours in a week.
We’ve proven that the team can deliver higher quality output in a shorter working week. The reduced load also has the benefit of lots of built-in slack – so if something crops up, we’re not forced into pulling all-nighters to get us back on track.
Is it for everyone? Of course not, it does require a lot of trust, self-motivation, and initiative to deliver consistently excellent work and financial performance but that’s where we excel – we only hire the best, don’t stress them and pay over the odds. It also requires a different approach to resourcing and time-keeping as folks no longer work typical days – they focus on completing the current sprint.
