Looking to speak to those working a 4 day work week

annamiller·Feb 05, 2022

Hi fellow Elphas!

I am looking to learn how to transition into a 4 day work week for myself. I am also looking to better understand the benefits and outcomes of this setup when communicating with management.

If you or someone you know works, or is transition to a 4 day work week, I would love to speak with you!

Please DM me or reply below. Thank you!!!

Wenlin·Feb 05, 2022

@annamiller I don't work a 4 day work week but I do practice cyclical wisdom and seasonality, meaning - Cyclical Wisdom (Monthly): Alignment with INTERNAL cycles. I schedule most of my outward facing and energy-consuming work during my follicular phase & ovulation (esp. 1 to many trainings, conferences, etc.) and have lots of slack & buffer to rest and recharge during my luteal phase & menstruation (often I might only work 2-3 hrs a day) - Seasonality (Yearly): Alignment with EXTERNAL cycles. Spring to Summer I launch and do most of my outward-facing work. Autumn I do a lot of consolidation, reviewing the programs to see what worked/didn't and cut out the irrelevant/unnecessary stuff. I use this to plan the next year. In Winter I return to my vision/goal from the beginning of the year to see what was met, what fell short, I schedule a lot of rest, reflection, self-growth, reading and nourishment, and connect deeply with my intuition to create a vision for the next year. - I also observe circardian rhythms (daily): I get most of the tough work out during the hours of 10 - 12pm, brainstorm/discuss/engage creatively from 3-5pm. This changes according to the seasons (I rise earlier and sleep later and work more during summer, and rise later and sleep later and work less during winter)For me this saves energy while optimizing outcomes, so this is what I advocate and support female changemakers to transition to as well. If this sounds interesting/relevant/helpful for you, let's chat :)@Mirna tagging you as well as you mentioned you're curious about being in harmony with nature

annamiller·Feb 07, 2022

Thanks for your insight @WenlinT, appreciate you sharing this way of working and managing your time.

iammyr·Feb 07, 2022

I used to officially work a 4 day work week, up until a couple of weeks ago as I switched team.I used to end up working on the 5th day as well though, with the only additional benefit of not having meetings and not having to be responsive via chat/email. This benefit is not small indeed and it allowed to be even more flexible than usual, with my 5th day schedule.Other than that though, there is not much advantage. I believe 4 days are not enough to achieve a good level of progress for your work week. This at least in my experience. It might indeed depend on the job role or environment.

annamiller·Feb 07, 2022

Thanks for this insight @iammyr, Very much appreciated!

marlenapearl·Feb 10, 2022

Hi @annamiller! I work 4-day work weeks, but I will preface that it is an organization-wide policy that we work 4-day work weeks. Our company is participating in a pilot program run by a research company that is evaluating 4-day work weeks.I started working at my current organization at the beginning of November 2021 and I am thoroughly enjoying my new 4-day work week life :) Happy to answer any questions you might have, though it sounds like my experience may differ a bit from yours since mine is implemented by management (instead of me needing to convince them).