Meet the Kitchener software company that moved to a four-day work week

KITCHENER - Imagine a world where every weekend is a long weekend.

For a small tech company in this city, a four-day work week is the new normal, and it's already paying off.

Green Brick Labs is an iGaming software development group that specializes in using cryptocurrency for payment - an innovative design strategy that has paved the way for the company's growth since its inception in 2014.

Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, the company's management team started looking at ways it could provide more flexibility for its 31 employees.

That summer, it tried out half-days on Fridays.

It started in the summer, but the intention was always that if this goes well, we will make it indefinite," said Brett Mitchell, manager of people and culture at the software company.

The premise was to give their employees the option to start working nine hours a day from Monday to Thursday, and then come in for a quick four-hour day on Fridays.

As it progressed, said Mitchell, the emphasis moved away from a strict schedule, and became more about ensuring they could maintain the same amount of output.

But there were some growing pains with the transition. Over time, said Mitchell, they found Fridays essentially became a day completely full of meetings.

So, in January, they decided to get rid of Friday workdays altogether.

I think almost anyone who is in a company, or running a company, knows that a Friday afternoon is not that productive," said the company's CEO Cyrus Naini. People are winding down already, and what we saw when we got rid of the afternoon, is that just transitioned to the morning. I think what became obvious is people just need that break. Two days is just definitely not enough for a work-life balance."

The company decided to trial it for eight weeks, and the response was immediate.

Clearly people were already asking for this without vocalizing the need for it," said Naini. No one is happy when you have a meeting scheduled for 4 p.m. on a Friday. So, we just decided to take those cues and try to react to what our team members were telling us."

While there would be limitations for certain types of business structures that require five days of work - the financial markets don't close on Fridays, for example - it is a concept Naini said every business should take a hard look at.

Even if work has to be done on a Friday, there's always the option of scheduling Monday to Thursday shifts and Tuesday to Friday shifts, he said.

And since implementation, productivity hasn't suffered.

When you know that you can have a full three-day weekend, we're seeing people really focus to get their work done over those four days because they know they are going to have time to properly rest and recharge," he said.

There's no drop in pay, no drop in vacation days, and workers now only have to use four of their allotted vacation days to get a full week off.

They're not the only ones looking at this model, with companies like Canon, Kickstart and Unilever test piloting the initiative.

In 2019, Microsoft announced a 40 per cent increase in productivity for one of its Japanese subsidiaries when it trialled the four-day work week.

Alida Inc., a Toronto-based software company with over 500 employees, announced last month it would be transitioning its workforce to four days in July.

And it's also working its way into the Ontario provincial election.

The NDP said they would reintroduce one of their private member's bills from 2021 that would create a commission to develop recommendations on how to implement a year-long pilot project of the four-day work week.

Meanwhile, Liberal leader Steven Del Duca said his party would consult with business and labour groups to design and evaluate a model of a four-day work week to demonstrate its potential in the province.

Since implementing the first trial at Green Brick Labs, the company has yet to have an employee leave. And as they look to continue expanding, said Mitchell, the model should help attract top talent that are looking for a better balance.

I think it really comes down to having trust and believing your team will take that time and deliver," said Mitchell. So far, it's been working."

Robert Williams is a Waterloo Region-based reporter for The Record. Reach him via email: robertwilliams@torstar.ca