Four-day work week trial at Toronto tech company led to 'unanticipated' result, CEO says
The CEO of a Toronto tech company says a trial into four-day work weeks has been a big success and the experiment even brought forward an "unanticipated" result.
Ross Wainwright, CEO of Alida, said the software company implemented four-day work weeks for its 500 employees at the start of June and the two-month trial wraps up this week.
Company officials said the decision for the shortened work week came from employee feedback and was driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The early results are fantastic," Wainwright told CP24 Wednesday. "The employees are clearly happier and they are more balanced."
Wainwright said the company did not reduce salaries in order to achieve the four-day work week, where everyone has Fridays off.
"This is about getting better balance for our employees and helping to invest in their mental health," he said
Wainwright said the most "unanticipated" result of the trial was how empowered his employees told him they felt knowing the company trusted them to get the job done with a reduced schedule.
"We empowered the employees to get the work done within their schedule," he said. "It's the power of trust that really motivated the employees … The day you should trust your employees is the day you hire them and that trust has gone a long way."
Wainwright said the company will take the next six weeks to review the results of the trial and hopes four-day work weeks will become a permanent part of the company’s benefit package.
He said the trial is also having a "huge impact" on employee retention in a time when companies are struggling with labour shortages.
"Without a doubt, I would urge companies to experiment," he said. "We looked at eight Fridays. It wasn't a huge commitment ... It was just the right thing to do."
Meanwhile, the world’s largest four-day work week experiment is nearing at its halfway point in the U.K.. Organizers behind it say there has been significant improvements to people’s wellbeing.
The trial, which is being conducted through partnerships between 4 Day Week Global and researchers at Cambridge, Boston College and Oxford University, includes approximately 3,300 workers across 70 different companies.
Businesses who are participating, while only working 80 per cent of their usual hours, are seeing no changes in compensation or productivity.
"Anecdotally, companies are suggesting there’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience with revenue and productivity levels, [that have] either maintained or, in some cases, improved," Charlotte Lockhart, the managing director and founder of 4 Day Week Global, a not-for-profit organization that has been working to support the adoption of a four-day work week since 2018, told BNN Bloomberg in a video interview earlier this month.
The trial began in June and will continue until November.
With files from BNN Bloomberg's Daniel Johnson.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trudeau says fall of Assad 'ends decades of brutal oppression' for Syria
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a new chapter for Syria can begin that's free of terrorism and suffering for its people.
Baby found dead in south Edmonton parking lot: police
Police are investigating the death of an infant in south Edmonton.
Trump calls for immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and says a U.S. withdrawal from NATO is possible
Donald Trump on Sunday pushed Russian leader Vladimir Putin to act to reach an immediate ceasefire with Ukraine, describing it as part of his active efforts as U.S. president-elect to end the war despite being weeks from taking office.
Quebec Premier meets with Trump, Zelenskyy and Musk during Paris trip
Quebec Premier François Legault met up with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk while visiting Paris this weekend.
Do you recognize these men? RCMP seek Metro Vancouver grandparent scam suspects
Mounties in Metro Vancouver have released photos of two men alleged to have been involved in “numerous” so-called grandparent scams earlier this year, hoping the public can help identify them.
Pantone names its colour of the year for 2025
Pantone has named an 'evocative soft brown' its colour of the year for 2025, continuing a tradition that has now run for more than a quarter of a century.
Ousted Syrian leader Assad flees to Moscow after fall of Damascus, Russian state media say
Ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad fled to Moscow on Sunday, Russian media reported, hours after a stunning rebel advance took over the capital of Damascus and ended the Assad family's 50 years of iron rule.
A man, a bike and a gun: Police search for evidence to solve the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO on the streets of New York
As the investigation into the fatal shooting of a health care executive in Manhattan enters its fifth day, police are missing key pieces of evidence and are combing through what they have gathered for more clues, as the suspect remains on the run.
Inside the 'brutal' logistical challenge of staging a Formula One Grand Prix
With Formula One cars rocketing around Lusail International Circuit at average speeds comfortably north of 130 miles per hour (210 kilometres per hour), the Qatar Grand Prix was all over in little more than 90 minutes.