Four-day week with 100% pay: Two NI firms see ‘great benefits’

Two of the first businesses in Northern Ireland to introduce a four-day work week have ‘seen great benefits’ since it was introduced two years ago.

JMK Solicitors and CRASH Services both introduced the scheme in 2020 with no impact on pay. Staff now work 80% of the time for 100% pay and both firms have seen improvements in employee wellbeing as well as customer and client satisfaction.

Jonathan McKeown, CEO at CRASH and chairman at JMK Solicitors, said: “We have over 150 employees across both businesses, who our customers and clients rely on in a time of crisis. We wanted to ensure they have the right work-life balance to be able to perform at their best in stressful situations. 

“When we launched the two-year research project in summer 2018, there was real excitement within the team. We have been in operation at CRASH for over 25 years, and over 18 years with JMK and we wanted to take a leading role in offering our employees the gift of time, which is the greatest gift we and any employer can give to their team.

“Staff wellbeing has also never been as important than the last few years, and especially with the challenges that Covid-19 brought, we knew that having more free time to spend with family and friends is something employees want more of and benefit from in many ways.”

Michelle Murphy, head of operations and HR at CRASH Services and JMK Solicitors, explained: “Flexibility, homeworking and utilising technology were already a mainstay of our working practices, so we were able to adapt quickly to the challenging environment in 2020 and the introduction of the

four-day work week.

“When we first launched this project in 2018, we knew there was a lot of preparation to do before we could implement the new working patterns. We set our teams the task of reviewing every working practice, encouraging every person to look at their individual role and ask what was inefficient. 

“This has been an insightful process and they have eliminated some parts, streamlined other processes and used technology to make time savings. These suggestions were then documented before being reviewed by the management team with the vast majority of the recommendations being implemented.

“This project was not necessarily about reducing everyone to a four-day week. It might suit others to work their hours over five shorter days and if that’s what a staff member wants, we will try to accommodate them.”

Jonathan added: “We have always had very low levels of staff turnover but we never want to be complacent. We feel that with increased automation, reduced hours will be considered by more employers, particularly in the current climate where it is imperative for many businesses to find out expedient ways to carry out work. We wanted to take a leading role and are happy to share our experiences with others.”

CRASH Services has offices in Belfast, Newry and a soon to open Londonderry office while JMK Solicitors has offices in Belfast, Newry and Londonderry.