Why some NGOs are implementing a four-day workweek

On the surface, the concept of a four-day workweek could easily be lumped together with other flexible work trends that have sprung up since the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the length of an average work week has long been a topic of discussion and speculation. The economist John Maynard Keynes opined in 1930 that more efficient working methods would usher in a 15-hour workweek for many “within 100 years.” In 1956, a New York Times headline read: “Nixon Foresees 4-Day Workweek”, referencing the then United States vice president’s optimism that American economic prosperity would lead to less work and more family time. However, for many full-time workers globally, a five-day workweek has remained the standard, and in the U.S., 40 hours has been the legal definition of a full workweek since 1940. “The five-day workweek was invented about a century ago as a construct of the post-industrial era. A lot has changed since then, in terms of our productive capacity and technological advancements,” said Joe O’Connor, co-founder and director at Work Time Reduction Center of Excellence, an organization that promotes the widespread adoption of reduced working hours. At a time when employee mental health is worsening globally and resignation rates remain high, “burnout, recruitment and retention are amongst the top three issues why companies are interested in a four-day week,” said Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, global programs and development manager at 4 Day Week Global, a nonprofit coalition promoting the four-day week concept. The 4 Day Week campaign worked with climate-focused independent research organization Autonomy UK on a recently published report based on a four-day workweek pilot lasting six months and involving 61 companies and non-profit organizations in the United Kingdom. The results suggested reducing work hours was highly beneficial to employees’ well-being and work-life balance, with 39% of employees reporting lowered levels of stress and 71% stating reduced burnout. As a result, 56 of the participating companies are continuing with the four-day week model. Meanwhile, other organizations have experimented with, and in some cases, implemented their own shorter workweek policies, including the U.K.-based NGOs STOPAIDS and Wellcome, and Grand Challenges Canada. In April 2021, STOPAIDS — a leading HIV, health, and rights network — became the first U.K. charity to contractually move to a 28-hour workweek. This was preceded by an 18-month pilot and analysis of performance KPIs. The results showed that implementing a shorter workweek not only benefited well-being, it also improved staff recruitment, retention, and productivity — with no apparent adverse effects on organizational performance. “I know that's not intuitive — you think, how can you be working less and be more productive and have more impact? It’s about the interplay between being rested, feeling more focused, and working smarter,” said Mike Podmore, director at STOPAIDS. While a four-day workweek remains a rarity within the global development and NGO sectors, Devex spoke to several organizational consultants, NGOs, and other sector experts to explore the potential benefits and opportunities that work time reduction could offer development organizations, both small and large. Improved health and well-being “We tend to think of issues around work-life balance and burnout as personal issues. However, the fact that everybody is dealing with these issues should clue us that they are structural and organizational faults rather than personal,” Soojung-Kim Pang said. Because global development often attracts a purpose-driven workforce, where the focus is often on making life better for others, even “under good circumstances, it can be difficult to switch off,” Soojung-Kim Pang added. And as for organizations trying to maximize impact, not utilizing work hours that could otherwise potentially achieve impact can present a dilemma. Well-being project manager and HR consultant Mona Chergui, who conducted the final independent evaluation of STOPAIDS’s four-day week trial, said this can especially be the case in the not-for-profit sector. “NGOs are not necessarily known for how good they are at well-being. Often budgets are tight and rightly so. The majority of money is going towards the delivery of the program and that doesn't always leave a lot of space to think about welfare,” she said. “You think, how can you be working less and be more productive and have more impact? It’s about the interplay between being rested, feeling more focused, and working smarter.” --—Mike Podmore, director, STOPAIDS However, without also prioritizing the well-being of employees, it is less likely that organizations can sustain the impact they are set up to have. “Despite the pilot taking place in the middle of the pandemic, we found workplace stress reduced for all the staff. Everyone also felt they had a better work-life balance — things which are important to invest in on their own,” Podmore said. Better processes for greater output and impact There are many informal influencers that can help, or halt, change from being achieved within (and through) an organization. According to Matthew Schmidt, founder and CEO of the workplace intelligence platform Peoplelogic, organizations are often so preoccupied with trying to improve outcomes, that they don’t always take into consideration what impact the number of meetings and how long their spending in those meetings have on their engagement levels. David Masse, director of corporate operations and human resources at Grand Challenges Canada, said reducing the amount, length, and attendees of meetings has helped the NGO successfully manage a four-day workweek. “When you do a meeting purge you actually don't reduce productivity, you actually increase productivity,” Masse said. This highlights the potential for organizations to make up for the time of shorter work weeks by reprioritizing meetings and retiring outdated processes while boosting their impact by freeing up time and mental space and putting them to better use. Improved recruitment and retention rates “Often nonprofits are unable to offer the same level of compensation as similar roles within other industries. And so the four-day week can become a very useful tool to retain and to attract talent within the international development sector,” Schmidt said. In Chergui’s experience, it “also makes the organization more welcoming if what they're offering is not exactly right for whatever group or person. [Because] pretty much every survey and bit of evidence about occupational psychology says that flexibility is what the general public value when it comes to work, not rewards or the highest salary,” she said. Proponents of the four-day workweek also point to the fostering of trust as another key benefit, which ultimately leads to a happier, more engaged workforce. “What something like a four-day workweek says to employees, especially if the organization isn’t reducing salaries, is that we trust you. And we also trust you to deliver what you need to deliver over four days,” Chergui said. A more diverse and family-friendly workplace A shorter week with a more flexible work schedule “embraces lots of people that wouldn't have previously been able to do it,” Chergui said, including women who have traditionally been the primary caregivers in most families and have been unable to secure jobs requiring a 40-hour week. Siomha Cunniffe, development and network manager at STOPAIDS, emphasized how “the work week was developed around a society where certain people worked and certain people didn't. And we haven't quite caught up yet. This is one step towards trying to create a more level playing field for women and parents in particular.” Likewise, with some roles that demand more than 40 hours per week, “you either need a person who doesn't have a life or a 25-year-old guy who can sleep under his desk,” Soojung-Kim Pang said. However, if you're trying to do that same work in 32 hours, “you want a person who understands their work, that works well with other people, and that can also be ruthless when they need to,” he said. Adding that, “this opens up the possibility of hiring moms who have a skill that is difficult for them to exercise in more conventional companies.”