“Have you been up to much this weekend? There wasn’t much special going on was there?” Can you actually believe that anybody in England would say that after the events of Sunday?! Well, believe it alright! And what is more, I am not alone!
I can’t say that the Tice household is football free, but certainly the Emma Tice vicinity is one of complete absence of anything to do with football. I will be hugely unpopular but I unapologetically hate the sport! Let’s not get too much into that because I don’t fancy receiving hate mail but the moral of the story is that whilst many of you are feeling totally bummed about the events of Sunday evening I am carrying on with my life, completely oblivious! In fact, I only knew the score when my youngest daughter told me this morning!
I am however thoroughly excited for the Olympics. Now there is a sporting event where we will almost definitely win multiple gold medals and we can watch all manner of sporting events from hockey to dressage, walking races (my fave!) to diving!!
What is absolutely real for me at the moment is the end of term stress! I post about it every single year. We have sports days, performances, non-uniform days, trips to here there and everywhere, church services, late to school because of the football, bring some grapes into school but remember to chop them lengthways, buy 10,000 thank you teacher cards and boxes of chocolates. Wrestling with overtired over stimulated children- it’s a joy! But, don’t wish it away too soon because before you know it the little darlings will be at home for seven weeks!
I love my kids really but the struggle is just really real. All that and I technically work four days a week! Four days a week you say? Wasn’t there some kind of study going on about a four day working week over the last year? Well, yes there absolutely was (seamless transition right?)
The study I am referring to related to the four day working week trial at South Cambridgeshire District Council and by all accounts it has been a roaring success! And this is all off the back of another recent study into the four day working week which reported in February 2024 and was equally as successful (https://autonomy.work/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/The-results-are-in-The-UKs-four-day-week-pilot.pdf).
It goes without saying that employees are bound to prefer it but has it really worked for the employer? In short, yes – shortest blog ever!
But, let me go into the detail…
The study found that the trials has led to greater job retention, satisfaction and productivity, despite criticism from the former government (no, I wont get into politics!) The headline stats are that it decreased staff turnover by 39%. This is great but also great for the bottom line because it reduced recruitment demands and led to a saving of £371,500 over 12 months. There was also a 53% increase in the average number of applications for vacant roles advertised externally. This shows that by offering some sort of “flexible” working, you are simply appealing to a huge, much wider and much more likely better calibre talent pool.
What was probably most surprising was that the four day working week trail actually increased performance in 11 out of 24 areas on a very black and white basis. There were also huge improvements in motivation and physical and mental health.
Surprised? I wasn’t. I believe really strongly in allowing your staff to work flexibly. I firmly believe that that is how you get the absolute best out of them. If your employees are happy and fulfilled then it is almost inevitable that your business will be successful. That is the formula that we have used at Precept and it is certainly working so far!
Now, somebody somewhere told me that we have a new government… and in line with that, campaigners are launching a new four day working week trial in order to influence that new government. The plan is that various companies participating in the trial will start the scheme in November this year and present their findings to the government during summer 2025.
So, no formal or legal changes as of yet but it certainly seems to me that the new Labour government will be much more open to the findings of this study than the previous government so it is certainly something to watch on a legal basis. But we are forward thinking employers right? You should think about it( just my view, but I think if you embrace flexibility in the workplace then your staff will embrace you!)
That is quite enough of me being on my soapbox… I will leave you all in peace…
PS – I also don’t do politics, so believe me you will hear from us as soon as any employment laws changes are genuinely proposed to drop but until then – don’t even worry about it is my advice (and I am sticking to it!) If you are on the VIP list, you will know as soon as we know and in our trade mark no nonsense style. If you aren’t, why on earth not? Sign up here
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