Four-day work week here to stay, Ontario organizations say after trials

The COVID-19 pandemic inspired change in the world of work. Forcing people to work from home, it showed that traditional office models aren’t the only way to get things done.

In Canada and across the world post-pandemic, workers are demanding flexibility about where they work and when, and many employers responded to that.

To many people’s delight and surprise, some employers in Ontario adopted four-day work weeks, a phenomena now being taken up seriously across the globe.

The U.K. recently implemented the world's biggest four-day work week program, allowing thousands of workers to start the program with no cut to their pay.

“What employees and individuals have learned over the past few years has completely re-envisioned what work life balance means to them,” said Michael Halinski, an associate professor of organizational behaviour at Toronto Metropolitan University. “The four-day work week, it's just another extension of giving the employees more options in terms of where they want to work, when they want to work, and how they want to work.”

“I think that employers that do meet those demands will be the organizations that are more successful.”

Jamie Savage, the founder of The Leadership Agency, a recruitment company in Toronto, said her company adopted a four-day work week in October 2020 to foster better mental well-being for employees in their workplace.

The company was one of the first in Toronto to adopt the model.

“Our productivity increased by about 200 per cent, our revenue has more than doubled, and we expanded into the U.K. six months after launching a four-day work week,” she told CTV News Toronto on Tuesday.

“It’s been very successful. It's not something we're going to be taking away. We put it in writing that we're never going back to a five-day work week.”

Savage said their four-day work program didn’t increase the number of hours employees worked each day. She said it also didn’t affect their pay.

“We made the decision, right from the very beginning to not ask for anything in exchange,” she said. “What we did was we changed our total productivity model to be effective, and to actually be more productive Monday through Thursday.”

“We had gaps in our productivity model that we addressed immediately through technology and communication tools, which actually gave them so much more time back in their day.”

Zorra Township, near London, Ont., was also one of the first in the province to take on a four-day work week, and what started as a pilot project became permanent in December 2021.

“It's been going very well so far,” Don MacLeod, Zorra’s chief administrative officer told CTV News Toronto. “I think our mental health improved here in the office. People are happier. It's really generated a lot of positivity in the office and people really look forward to their long weekends.”

The model that the township adopted did lengthen work days for the employees to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The town also cut out one of their paid breaks in order to meet the 35 hours a week requirement.

MacLeod said one employee chose to work five days a week because her daycare would not accept the new work hours.

“I would say that would be a one drawback for the new model is for parents who cannot find a childcare provider for those hours,” he said. “But we have very strong consensus that most people are appreciating the flexibility”