The idea of a 4-Day Work Week has been around for a while. But it’s only recently that it’s been making its way into the mainstream agenda, is one of the top remote work trends.
Some companies are already implementing this into their work culture, and many benefits come with it: lower stress levels, more time for family, increased productivity, etc.
What Is a 4-Day Work Week?
A normal work schedule would be to wake up early on Monday, go to work for 8 hours, and then do the same for five days a week. This is what is known as a 40hr workweek.
The six-month pilot, which ran for most companies, works on this model: Workers receive 100% of their pay 80% of the time and maintain 100% productivity. Unsurprisingly, workers overwhelmingly enjoyed having an extra day back to themselves: They rated the experience at 9.1 on a 10-point scale, and 97% said they wanted to continue the four-day work week schedule.
A 4-day work week is a schedule in which an individual works four full days per week instead of the more traditional five. The goal of a 4-day work week is to increase productivity and job satisfaction by giving employees more time to rest and pursue personal interests.
This schedule is typically achieved by having employees work longer hours on the days they come into the office. However, some organizations may also allow employees to work from home when they are not in the office.
Benefits of a 4-Day Work Week
1. Lower Business Expenses
The hardest part about working a shorter workweek is that people are often unsure if they can still have the same quality of life as they did before. However, lower business expenses mean it is easier for startups to get by with a smaller staff size.
When you have a more extensive operation, money is often wasted because it has to go towards paying for employees, which can be very costly if you need more of them.
2. Increased Work Productivity
It is believed that working a shorter workweek increases productivity because it forces employees to use their time better while working remotely.
Another reason for this increase in work productivity is that employees are exposed to cognitive rest, which allows their minds to relax and re-energize so they can be more productive when returning to work.
As employees spend less time in the office, less carbon dioxide and pollution will be emitted into the environment. It has been proven that working longer hours can harm our bodies and the environment.
Employees are more likely to work at a place with shorter workweeks because they can manage their time much better, which means they won’t waste any time on unnecessary tasks. This benefits them and the company by allowing them a better insight into where all their revenue is going so that it can be spent wisely and efficiently.
4. Reduced absenteeism
Employees may be less likely to take time off work if they have an extra day off each week. This can lead to reduced absenteeism, help avoid work from home burnout and improved attendance.
Another reason companies can decide on working a 4-day work week is that there will be less downtime, and this means that employees will be able to stay more focused on their job, which makes it easier for them to work harder or even research specific topics.
5. Cost savings
A 4-day work week may result in savings for businesses, as they can reduce expenses such as utilities, office supplies, and other overhead costs as well as help save money for remote workers as well.
6. Attracting top talent
Some employees may view a 4-day work week as a desirable benefit, making a company more attractive to top talent.
Top Remote Companies Offering a 4-Day Work Week
If you’re looking for some of the top remote companies to work for that also offer a four-day workweek, you’re in the right place. Here is a list of top remote companies with a 4-day workweek hiring for remote roles:
1. Basecamp
Basecamp is an online project management software company that was founded in 1999. They are mostly known for their flagship project management tool called Campfire. That is because most of their users use the product to communicate with each other.
On top of that, anyone can use the product for free, regardless of whether you are a paying customer. To cater to all those who use their free service, they have two offices: one in Chicago and another in Omaha, Nebraska.
Each office has a full-time staff that takes care of things like HR, engineering and, marketing & sales, where they follow a four-day working week schedule and work only 45 hours each week (about 11hrs a day).
As mentioned in their employee handbook, a four-day work week keeps the company very efficient. It helps keep their costs down as they do not need to pay as many people, simplifying their business model and ultimately making it cheaper for them to cater to the masses.
2. Buffer
Buffer is a social media marketing company that allows everyone to grow their audience. Their main product is a social media scheduler called Buffer Bot (Bubble) that lets you schedule posts in different time zones based on the time of day you are in.
The team behind Buffer was one of the most active programmers until they decided to give themselves the incentive to get even more involved with their community by switching to working a 4-day work week schedule for about six months.
They found that a four-day workweek allowed them to spend quality time with their newborn son and to work on more exciting projects they could finish, like the product itself, which was very successful.
3. Bolt
Founders Greg Kumparak and Scott Monty founded Bolt to organize their daily lives. They created a Facebook app, which they called Threads, to keep track of all of their different interests and thoughts.
The app’s usage was overwhelming for them, so they decided to turn it into an actual website where people can access all of the same features but also customize how they want the site to look. In addition, they decided to switch to a four-day working week schedule because they believed it would allow them to work at their company full-time while also focusing on their personal lives.
As they were working fewer days, they wanted to make every day at work more worthwhile by creating more exciting services and ensuring that suggestions from viewers would be implemented.
4. DNSFilter
DNSFilter is a leader in DNS security, with over $3M invested since its inception in 2009. Before DNSFilter, there were few alternatives for companies when it came down to domain name servers.
DNSFilter’s main goal was to provide a more reliable, faster, and customizable DNS setup. DNSFilter has over 500 clients, including companies like Cox and AT&T. They also have a team of 10 people working for them who are constantly improving the software in preparation for their upcoming new product.
The company is based in Austin, Texas, where they have an office that is always filled with people thanks to their four day working week schedule. The company’s founders believe that having a shorter work week would allow them to be more efficient with their time by letting them focus on significant initiatives instead of the small stuff.
5. The Financial Diet
The Financial Diet is a website that provides advice and tips regarding financial education. They have listed several great books that people can read on various topics, including personal finance, investing, investing, real estate, and taxes. The purpose of the website is to help everyone, from high school students to the elderly, learn about finances and how to better themselves in their daily life.
The Financial Diet follows a 4-day workweek schedule for about 40 hours per week, about 11 hours a day, to keep their costs down.
They do this by having only two employees working on the website at any given time and outsourcing the rest of their work, mainly to freelancers. However, they plan to hire more full-time people in the future because they are beginning to expand globally.
6. Kickstarter
Kickstarter is a company founded in 2009 as a way to help people fund their various projects and ideas through the use of crowdsourcing. Over the years, Kickstarter has held over 13 million backers and supported over 130,000 projects across 50 countries.
The company uses an all-or-nothing system which means that all project creators are required to reach their goal, or they will not receive any funding. Kickstarter is testing a four-day workweek in 2022. Their mission is to help bring creative projects to life. They believe that art and creative expression are essential to a healthy and vibrant society, and the space to create requires protection.
7. G2i
G2i is a hiring platform run by engineers that match you with pre-vetted React and React Native engineers. G2i is on a mission to be an uplifting force in the tech industry by matching healthy remote developers with healthy engineering teams.
Developers run them for developers focused on React, React Native, and Node.js. They believe that specializing in a few tech stacks allows us to go deeper into the nuanced details of each language and framework we vet for.
They believe that four day work week undoubtedly changed G2i for the better. Developer health (and the health of all employees and contractors) lies at the heart of what makes G2i the company it is today.
8. Bunny Studio
Bunny Studio is a creative fulfillment platform powered by technology and by humans. It works with the world’s top 4% of specialized professionals to deliver voiceovers, writing, video, and design services in more than 100 languages and accents.
Bunny Studio’s four-day workweek is a continuing experiment. But the data points to this set-up being advantageous to team members, the company, and clients. Given the overwhelmingly positive experience of the four-day workweek at Bunny Studio, this work system’s application is likely to expand across industries and the globe greatly.
9. GooseChase
GooseChase is a project started in 2012 by a bunch of students at MIT who wanted to make it easier for tourists to travel to the Galapagos Islands.
The project’s mission was to bring navigation, maps, and GPS technology to people to help them find their way through the Galapagos Islands. They wanted their technology to be as accurate as possible, so they made sure that it could take composite images with pre-stitched panoramic photos, which would be able to stitch together seamlessly.
Another reason for the success of GooseChase is that the team could run it as a 4-day work week. All six team members worked from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. during their 4-day work weeks but were paid for working an 8-hour day each day like everyone else in their office.
10. Wildbit
Wildbit is a small software startup based in Knoxville, Tennessee. The company was founded in 2006 by three programmers who had left their jobs at Google to create a better way of developing software.
The company has now grown to 4 employees, which they would like to one day expand to 7-10 people, which will help them add more value to the world.
One of the ways that Wildbit can keep costs low and focus on what’s important is by simultaneously working on other projects besides their primary product and working 4 day work weeks. They work on a caring set of guiding principles.
The 4-Day Work Week: The Future of Work
Several companies have adopted a 4-day work week or flexible work schedule to allow their employees more time off. If you are interested in finding a company with this type of policy, consider searching for companies that prioritize work-life balance or flexible schedules in their job listings or company culture.
Go over our guide to see how companies hire remote employees and learn essential qualities a remote employee must have. When searching for a remote job, study these common questions remote workers usually ask.. And while you’re at it, join like-minded remote workers in our LinkedIn community.
Searching for a remote job and need help figuring out where to look. DailyRemote is a remote job board with the latest jobs posted in various categories, such as software development, marketing, virtual assistant jobs, etc.