Civo moves to four-day working week

There will be plenty of channel business leaders watching cloud player Civo with interest as the business opts to move to a four-day working week.

The shift to hybrid working has created challenges for managers keen to keep staff appeased and get the balance right between working from home and expecting people to come into the office.

At the same time as being more flexible, the four-day working week debate has also come to the fore – and after a successful trial at Civo, it will now become a permanent move.

Staff at the cloud service provider will be expected to work a 34-hour week, down from 36, with people working 8.5 hour days over the shorter working week. Those that want to spread it over five days will also have that option.

The firm ran a trial and tracked employee well-being as well as the impact on business operations, with the conclusion that both benefited from the change. Staff got behind the move, with it likely to support retention and attraction of new staff.

Ian Banks, site reliability engineer at Civo, shared one experierience of how the four-day week trial had gone: “Having an extra day off really helps to alleviate pressures from inside and outside work. I can spend more time with my kids, get on with chores that could previously take up a whole Saturday, or go for a walk and decompress. I would not be surprised to see a reduced work week become the norm in the not-so-distant future.”

More firms are undergoing similar trials, and it is expected that the four-day week movement will become more widespread, particularly in an IT world that struggles to attract and retain staff.

“The experience of the last two years has changed how businesses think about the needs of employees forever. Looking after employee welfare and mental health is no longer seen as a ‘nice-to-have’, but a fundamental aspect of a successful business model, and rightly so,” said Mark Boost, CEO of Civo.

“Our adoption of the four-day work week came from the belief that by streamlining the working week, we could create a more productive and ultimately more successful organisation. I have been thrilled to see Civo staff embrace this flexible way of working. Teams are more engaged and motivated, and – crucially from a business perspective – we have seen no drop in the quality of work delivered,” he added.

The firm is also looking beyond using the four-day working week as a way of increasing staff flexibility by trialling uncapped employee holidays. As long as employees meet objectives, they will be able to enjoy more flexibility around holiday time they could take.

“The uncapped holiday trial is a core part of our belief in the opportunities created by flexible working. As long as you get your job done, and it doesn’t impact the team or our customers, you should be able to take whatever holiday you feel is appropriate,” said Boost.