A UK COMPANY HAS BEEN INSPIRED BY SWEDEN TO TRIAL A 6-HOUR WORKING DAY.

 

In September, we wrote about how businesses across Sweden were switching to a six-hour working day, and seeing higher profits, employee happiness and productivity.
Now a company in Liverpool has followed the Swedish example by instituting its own six-hour working day. Employees are thrilled.
At Agent Marketing staff arrive at 9am and leave at 4pm. Their day includes a mandatory one-hour lunch break.
Consequently employees have more time in the evening to pursue hobbies and spend time with their families.

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(Picture: Agent Marketing)

‘I like to snowboard, so one day I finished early and went to an indoor ski slope in Manchester which meant I beat the evening rush,’ head of creative Ben Spencer told the Huffington Post.
‘It was brilliant – I pretty much had the whole slope to myself.’
The switch to the six-hour working day isn’t solely about work-life balance. Company heads hope that the change will, as many companies in Sweden have discovered, increase employee focus, creativity and productivity too.
Agent Marketing were challenged to trial the new working day BBC’s The One Show, who will broadcast the results tonight at 7pm.

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(Picture: Agent Marketing)

Mr Spencer is confident that at the end of the two-month trial the benefits will be obvious.
‘One thing I have noticed since the trial started is how much more energised and refreshed everyone is when they arrive at the office,’ he said.
‘Energy levels stay consistently high throughout the day, with everyone absolutely focused.’
But the six-hour working day doesn’t work for everyone.

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(Picture: Agent Marketing)

For web developers tasked with designing and creating sites, an eight-hour working day isn’t long enough – let alone a six-hour one.
As a result Agent Marketing’s development department would find itself staying late while their colleagues headed home.
Mr Spencer suggests a ‘flexible’ system that lies somewhere between the Scandinavian and British models.
‘I think we can take the Scandinavian model and adapt it into something that’s flexible, something that leaves us with enough time to produce high quality work whilst staying refreshed with enough time for ourselves,’ he said.