U.K. fintech start-up moves to four-day work week without cutting pay |
U.K. based online lender Atom Bank has introduced a four-day work week for its 430 staff without cutting their pay. Employees now work 34 hours over four days and get Monday or Friday off. Previously they had clocked up 37.5 hours across the whole week. However, employees will have to work longer hours on the days that they are in. Atom Bank CEO Mark Mullen said the move was inspired by the pandemic and would help improve wellbeing and retain staff. "Before Covid, the conventional wisdom was you had to commute in, sit at a desk all day and repeat that process when you commuted home," said Mr Mullen, who has led the lender since 2014. "Covid showed us that it wasn't necessary . . . I think doing 9-5, Monday to Friday is a pretty old fashioned way of working." Mr Mullen said the new arrangement was voluntary, but strongly reflected his staff's preferences for more flexible working. He also hopes the arrangement will help attract talent at a time when staff attrition at the bank is "unusually" high due to the pandemic. "With Covid-19 causing vast numbers of people to reconsider how they want to live their lives, anything that leads to more productive, healthier, and, crucially, happier colleagues, is a win for everyone," he added. Writing for the New York Times, Kevin Delaney says the embrace of flexible work styles in response to the pandemic means the four-day workweek could finally be within sight. He cites a Gallup study which found that people who worked four-day weeks had significantly higher levels of well-being - but they also had higher levels of active disengagement. “By working fewer days per week, employees who already feel disconnected from their employer, team, or manager are more likely to drift even farther away — from tolerating their jobs to hating them,” Gallup’s Jim Harter and Ryan Pendell wrote. |
|