Case Study - Ice Group
By Margaret Cox - DIrector
“ICE Group is a growing, dynamic and vibrant multi-service company. We regard change as an opportunity for further development. Our commitment is a never-ending quest for perfection, providing even greater value and service to our customers and greater prosperity for each of us.”
Ice Group is an HR/Recruitment company in Ireland. They are a mid size company.
When did you start the 4 Day Week?: July 2019
Do you work 4 days or reduced hours: 4 days
Other: We moved to a four day model - built around a 3 day week-end
Did you run a trial?: Yes
How long was your trial: 1-3 months
Website: http://4dayweek.ie
Why did you start a 4 day week?: In ICE Group (established in 1972), we have always changed lives. The lives of our customers, our candidates and trainees and our community. We wanted to make a real difference to the lives of our employees, while delivering 100% customer satisfaction and world-class service.
What advice to do have?: Wished we had Andrew's book before we started!!!!! You can find where to get it here.
Type of 4 day week: Our hours were reduced from a 39 hour working week to a 36 hour working week, with no reduction in pay. All staff can work Monday to Thursday or Tuesday to Friday - always enjoying a 3 day week-end.
A bit about your people: We are a predominantly young workplace, with lots of bright young people and more experienced committed managers. We have been working in the office and remotely depending on peoples roles and ability to work from home since the Covid Pandemic. We are headquartered in Galway, the most beautiful city in Ireland.
Data and tracking: We have tracked the progress using some Wellness Surveys and measuring productivity and HR stats.
What have been the key benefits?: for staff stories - see www.4dayweek.ie
Top outcomes - +27% productivity, reduced single day absenteeism to almost 0, increased wellness scores by 33%, reduced unplanned attrition
What was one interesting hurdle you had to face?: Previously we had done cake on Friday’s of weeks where there was a staff birthday. Our staff really loved this team event and so we had to change this to Thursday.
What advice do you have for others: It's really important to keep the culture focussed on how to maintain the new behaviours adopted to maintain the same level of productivity and also really important to ensure everyone is aligned to making the handover between days off successful - taking care to share information and following up on things to be finished.
Read the rest of their story here
