Not too long ago, I was in the midst of some pretty intense job hunting. You know the drill; hours of mindless scrolling through LinkedIn job adverts, fuelled by copious amounts of both instant coffee and panic, desperately trying to find an agency that fits. Well, when the advert for a mid-weight designer at Principles popped up, I knew I had found what I was looking for; it was almost like a sign. One sentence stood out in particular, almost emanating from the screen… ‘we offer a 4 for 5 working week’.
Haha, I’m joking (ish)...
Of course that’s not the whole reality. For a start anyone who is in the creative industry knows that listings of creative jobs are few and far between, so I really wasn’t scrolling too long. Also, it feels strange to admit this considering I am writing this blog on the topic, but I had no real idea of what ‘4 for 5’ was. I presumed it was 4 days with compressed hours, something I had heard about from my friend in London. I concluded that if it happens in London it’s surely forward thinking, so I thought hey, why not, I’ll apply.
I was brought up with the notion that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. So the concept of working less days for the same pay was pretty baffling to me, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that surely there had to be a catch? However, 10 months down the line, I can officially confirm that it really is just a 4 day working week instead of 5. Imagine that.
Let’s be honest, agencies are always going to be fast paced, and it took a while to transition back into that after being freelance for a few years. But, once I settled in I could start to see how the 4 for 5 structure worked.
The briefs are direct and concise, complete with all the assets I need to get going. If any further meetings are needed for a brief, they are already booked in by the time I start it. There’s no ‘fluffy’ meetings or particularly arduous processes that take time away from the job at hand.
My design skills have sharpened.
Of course it’s nice to have surplus time to fine tune ideas but often this lead to procrastination and learning to be more focused and make quicker, intuitive decisions has really improved my work in ways I didn’t anticipate. Sure, it gets stressful at times when a design isn't quite working, but the agency understands that the process isn't always linear, and on the whole I am producing high quality work, more efficiently.
As for my home life, I’m rarely at home. I love anything outdoorsy from climbing, wild swimming, hiking and anything that falls under that category really! It’s always been a bit challenging trying to squeeze adventures into a 2 day weekend, even if I'd set off at 5 on the dot after work on a Friday, campsites check-in’s usually close early so I’d have to wait until Saturday morning to go. Then when I’d get back the next day, there was all the usual life admin to fit in too. Ironically, it was an exhausting pursuit of the thing that relaxes me.
The 4 day working week has changed all this for me. I can go away, come back early Monday morning and still have time to do all my ‘Sunday’ jobs. Not so long since I did my first 4000 meter mountain in Morocco, which I only had to book one extra day off (on top of the 3 day weekend). That’s when you realise how good you’ve got it. I can just decide, at the last minute, to go away in my van and not worry about my whole life falling apart in the subsequent weeks because I didn’t do a few loads of washing. I mean I still get the jobs done, just on Monday.
If I’m not outdoors, I now have more spare time to commit to improving my skillset or undertaking a new course. I love learning and trying to better myself, it’s just easier said than done when you only have 2 days off a week that are all too often booked up before you even get to them.
The 4 day working week is so much more than just a 3 day weekend.
There’s a lot of buzzwords and phrases in our industry, so many agencies that are ‘families’. But facilitating a 4 day working work week goes beyond just nice wording, it feels like a genuine commitment from the agency to every single employee in terms of work/life balance and overall wellbeing. Families don’t want to see you overworked and burnt out, they want to see you succeed, and be happy whilst doing it.
