'Am I dreaming?': Toronto company to pilot four-day work week without 10-hour days
A Toronto company is testing out a four-day work week pilot for six months starting in October, and employees are not expected to work 10-hour days to make up for the lost time.
PRAXIS, a marketing communications agency, announced it will be joining the 4 Day Week Global trial, along with 59 other North American companies.
“I've always felt quite passionately about the need for work-life balance and felt that technology has really provided us with a lot of opportunities to work more effectively and efficiently,” Matt Juniper, associate partner with PRAXIS, told CTV News Toronto.
After discovering 4 Day Week Global, Juniper said a lot of his initial concerns were “alleviated.”
“They’ve got a lot of good research and data that shows that the four-day week not only does the things you might think it does, in terms of benefits for your staff, but that the improved productivity and the staff well-being components can combine to actually improve business results.”
During the pilot, PRAXIS employees will work eight-hour days either from Monday to Thursday, or Tuesday to Friday, so each team can still provide regular service to their clients throughout the week.
The trial will follow the 100-80-100 model, which means employees will get paid their full salary while working 80 per cent of the time. The expectation is there will be 100 per cent devotion to their work during the time they’re on the clock.
But not everyone has to participate in the program if they don’t want to.
“If staff are more comfortable working at a sort of more gradual pace, they're comfortable with the five-day week, they will not be required to transition to the four-day week. It’s fully optional,” Juniper said
"Am I dreaming?"
Meredith Nebel, an account director at PRAXIS, told CTV News Toronto she initially thought she was dreaming when she heard the company will be trying out the four-day work week.
“Like, is this really a reality? I had to pinch myself,” Nebel said. “After I got over the initial, ‘Yes, I’m excited’, it was like, ‘But wait, how are we going to do this effectively and efficiently?’”
Juniper said there were a lot of discussions with staff and clients on how the four-day week would work at the company. Splitting up the days off, and providing the option of continuing to work a five-day week, were some of the solutions.
Nebel opted-in to the four-day work week model – “I mean, it would be foolish for me and my personal situation to not try it” – and notes the company has been preparing everyone for what the pilot will be like in the weeks leading into it.
“It’s from things as simple as making sure that we have somebody covering off our responsibilities while we have our rest day to setting up what our out-of-offices look like,” she said.
“We’ve started to already put these into place so that by the time we get to that first week of October, we hit the ground running and it'll be a smooth transition.”
Once the pilot starts, Nebel says she is most looking forward to spending more time with her family and her two young sons. She’s also going to use the extra time to get around to things that she has been putting on the back burner, like potentially taking a yoga teacher training course.
“It really just opens up that opportunity to check those boxes that might be on my bucket list."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
A 'tragedy that can't be measured': North Bay's forever chemical problem is also the rest of Canada's
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
opinion How to use your credit card as a powerful wealth-building tool
Irresponsibly using a credit card can land you in financial trouble, but personal finance columnist Christopher Liew says when used properly, it can be a powerful wealth-building tool that can help grow your credit profile and create new opportunities.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
Questlove was not happy with Drake and Kendrick Lamar's beef: 'Nobody won the war'
While some may have been excited and/or amused by the diss-track feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, the man many consider to be an elder statesman of hip-hop appears less than enthused about it.
Trump heading to Jersey Shore to rally 'mega crowd' in weekend break from hush money trial
After a long week in court, Donald Trump is heading to the Jersey Shore. And his campaign says he'll be joined by "tens of thousands" of his friends.
For moms-to-be, it's possible to take maternity leave without breaking the bank
Pregnancy is often an exciting and anxious time for parents-to-be. And while painting the nursery and choosing a stroller are typically on the agenda, experts say preparing financially for a maternity leave can help reduce stress later on as well.
Bouchard lifts Edmonton Oilers to 4-3 overtime win over Canucks in Game 2
Evan Bouchard scored 5:38 into overtime and the Edmonton Oilers bounced back for a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Friday.
Fine dining, at a new high. A Michelin-starred chef will take his cuisine to our upper atmosphere
Six guests are set to ascend aboard Spaceship Neptune to the stratosphere, where they will enjoy an immersive dining experience served up by Danish Michelin-starred chef Rasmus Munk.