In 2021, we joined the 4 Day Week Global pilot of a 4 day week, as we believed we could boost productivity, give employees time to pursue their own creative pursuits, and promote a healthier work-life balance for with a thoughtful transition to a shorter workweek.

As a Public Benefit Organization, and the first tech company with a wall-to-wall union, we’ve been at the forefront of corporate innovation in the tech industry for the benefit of society and why we were named one of TIME’s 100 most influential companies this year along with 4 Day Week Global. Helping lead the way on the 4 day week is simply part of that tradition for us.

Implementation

Communication was the cornerstone of our implementation of a 4 day week. People have a strong emotional reaction to a shorter workweek and we wanted to make sure that everyone was signed on for the fact that we may have to go back or adjust as we learn.

We made it a priority to keep our staff informed about the process, defining what success would look like, and outlining the support we would provide throughout the pilot.

The excitement was palpable across the organization, but we also recognized some apprehension, particularly among team leaders concerned about maintaining productivity levels. 

Addressing these concerns was crucial. We worked closely with teams, ensuring they felt confident about the adjustments they were going to make to reduce meetings or types of work and ensuring they had clarity on their priorities. Good leadership practices of clear goals and mandates, high expectations, and high trust to execute were the most important aspects of our implementation of the 4 day week. We gave teams guidance on improving their processes and gave them a greenlight to adjust them and cut out inefficient meetings or low impact work.

The transition to a 4 day week was not without its challenges. Some teams took longer to fully adapt to the new schedule. This was particularly true for teams that were already understaffed and needed to hire additional personnel, or those that needed to figure out how to increase efficiencies over time. We supported these teams through the transition, providing additional resources and guidance as needed.

Outcomes

Twelve months after implementing the 4 day week, we’ve seen dramatic changes to key organizational metrics. The most profound impact was on employee retention. We’ve seen very few employees choose to depart the company since the implementation of the 4 day week. Employees now see themselves working at Kickstarter in 2 years at nearly twice the rate as before our pilot.

Relatedly, employee engagement is up by 50%. People are more energized and dedicated to their work. They are using their extra time to pursue creative projects, take care of their families, or rest, allowing them to come to work each week with more energy and creativity.

While we expected these benefits, we didn’t realize what their impact would be. Particularly retaining staff on teams executing key strategic work has dramatically improved our ability to hit objectives and key results every quarter.

While we were lucky to meet 70% of our objectives and key results in any given quarter prior to our pilot, we now hit more than 90%. It’s easy to think that a company might have to sacrifice some ambition to implement a 4 day week, but we have only increased the scale of our ambition since its adoption.

The most profound impact is on the lives of employees and the people we love. It has been particularly powerful for the young parents at Kickstarter, who get priceless time to spend with their children in their early years.

One year on

Overall, the 4 day week remains a success at Kickstarter more than 12 months later. It not only improved work-life balance but also fostered a more productive, creative and happier workforce. The process has been a testament to Kickstarter's commitment to innovation and employee well-being, and the trust we’ve built with our staff.

So far, we have made only one significant change following the pilot when we realized that weeks with holidays, which were three day workweeks during the pilot with Monday and Friday off, were simply not working. To solve the problem, we shifted to working Fridays when Monday was a holiday so we are always working a 4 day week. That policy has allowed us to maintain productivity while creating an interesting schedule where holidays create a four day weekend (Friday-Monday) followed by a traditional two-day weekend. It’s good to be reminded occasionally of the limited rest and recuperation the traditional workweek affords to make you feel grateful and motivated to retain a 4 day week.

Words of advice

A lot of people don’t understand what a 4 day week is. They assume it’s a hard and fast rule where pencils are down and computers are off after four days and 32 hours of work. But really it’s about changing our norms around work.

My definition of a 4 day week is that it’s the expectation with good leadership, improved practices, and the better balance and engagement a shorter workweek provides, we can usually get everything done in 32 hours/4 days.

We trust our employees to balance the extra time given to them to balance rest, family, volunteering, health, and any remaining work they have to make sure they’re staying on top of things. That trust and flexibility is critical.

As an executive, adopting a 4 day week requires courage. It’s much safer to stick with the status quo. But sticking with the status quo isn’t leadership. And the truth is that there is now a ton of evidence that a 4 day week works for people and for organizations. It’s time we all start shifting towards a new norm for work.