The four-day workweek is becoming the norm for more and more workers. Results from a six-month, 2022 study of 61 companies and nearly 3,000 workers who implemented it found that both productivity and morale improved. At least one policymaker has since introduced legislation to reduce the standard workweek to 32 hours, and many companies have adopted the model full time.
One such company is Merit America, a nonprofit that creates pathways to careers in tech without a four-year degree. "We've been talking about the four-day workweek for years, studying the research, thinking about how we would roll it out," says Rebecca Taber Staehelin, co-founder and co-CEO of the organization.
After a several month trial that began in the fall of 2021, they decided to implement the policy officially in April 2022. Here's why Merit America has a four-day workweek, and what they look for in an employee.
The four-day workweek saw 'big leaps' in wellness
Generally speaking, Staehelin and her co-CEO, Connor Diemand-Yauman, have long questioned the typical structure of white collar work.
"There are all sorts of norms that we really like examining and saying, 'where did this come from? And is it serving us as well as it could?'" she says. They were pre-pandemic adopters of remote work, for instance. The company's now fully remote.
When companies in countries like New Zealand and the U.K. started testing out four-day workweeks, the two paid attention. "I think New Zealand was the first promising data that convinced us to start our pilot almost two years ago now," says Staehelin.
As with other trials, the results of their own trial were overwhelmingly positive. While there was no change in performance, they saw "big leaps in our staff self-reported wellness and satisfaction," says Yauman. "And these trends have persisted."
'We really need people who check their egos at the door'
For Merit America, Fridays aren't necessarily a day when employees shouldn't do any work, more a day to use at their discretion. Some people elect to work, but the idea is "don't text or email other people unless it's an emergency," says Yauman, "just as you wouldn't text or email folks on a Saturday or Sunday."
When it comes to what kind of employee they're looking for (Merit America is hiring), "I think for us, one of the most important things is the real passion for our mission and our vision," says Staehelin.
"Ultimately, the folks at Merit America and why we have so much trust in them to operate with so much autonomy are drawn by our vision of creating a world in which any American can transform their career and advance their life, especially those who are currently stuck in low wage work," she adds.
When it comes to red flags, they're not looking for someone just out for themselves.
"It's pretty easy to tell through a well-crafted interview process if someone is a real collaborative team player or very much about their individual ego," says Staehelin. "Because the problem we're trying to solve is so big and it requires so much teamwork and innovation, we really need people who check their egos at the door."
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